Gautam Gambhir launches cricket scholarship programme

Former India opener Gautam Gambhir bid goodbye to cricket with a bang last month but he continues to associate himself with social causes. The 37-year-old recently launched FG PowerPlayer, a cricket scholarship programme, along with sports technology firm ‘Funngage’. Under this programme, male and female cricketers aged between 12 and 24 years will get a fully paid five-year scholarship with a three-week training camp in Perth, Australia, under the guidance of former South Africa Test cricketer HD Ackerman.

Trials begin in Kolkata from January 21

The Kolkata trials for the scholarship will begin from January 21 at the Videocon Cricket Ground. The aim of the programme is to assess cricketing talents and send the selected ones for training Down Under to get the best of training with financial and administrative help. Gambhir launched ‘Funngage’ as a sports talent hunt platform last year which he said will help anybody from any geographical location – be it a small town or big city – to realise his/her dreams.

The said scholarship will be for five years and will include coaching, training equipment and travel expenses. It will also have under its coverage medical and physiotherapy sessions for players.

Gambhir, who featured in two of India’s World Cup-winning squads (World T20 in 2007 and ICC World Cup in 2011) and played memorable knocks in the finals of both the tournaments, recently quit the game after scoring a century for his home state Delhi against Andhra in this year’s Ranji Trophy. He opening left-hand batsman last played for India in a Test against England in November 2016 and realising that there was little chance of him making a comeback to the national side, decided to call it a day eventually.

Gambhir, who has also led India impressively during his career, scored over 10,000 runs with 20 hundreds between 2004 and 2016. In first-class cricket, the former Delhi batsman ended up with over 15,000 runs with 43 hundreds at an average of over 49.

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