South Africa's Thando Ntini begins training under Indian coach Dinesh Lad in Mumbai

Thando Ntini, the son of legendary South African bowler Makhaya Ntini, has started training under Dinesh Lad in Mumbai. Lad has coached some of the finest India players like Rohit Sharma and Shardul Thakur. Thando, the 21-year-old all-rounder, was part of the South Africa U-19 World Cup squad in 2018. He has scalped 32 wickets in 14 first-class games, while he has picked up 16 wickets in 14 T20 games.

Thando is training at the Swami Vivekananda School in Borivali (Gorai extension), and notably, Lad is not charging any fee from the youngster. Makhaya Ntini, the former Proteas bowler who scalped 390 wickets in 101 Tests, wanted his son to train under a well-known coach, and that is when he came to know about Dinesh Lad, a popular name in India’s domestic setup. Notably, Lad has also trained his son Siddhesh Lad and he went on to captain the Mumbai side.

Thando Ntini looks focused and wants to become a good cricketer: Dinesh Lad

“Actually he (Thando) came through one of my Railways students. He was a masseur of the South African team for the Legends tournament and he knew Makhaya. Right now there is off-season in South Africa and Thando was sitting idle. So Makhaya got in touch with my railway student asking whether there was any good coach in India. My student in turn suggested my name. And that is how he came to me,” Lad was quoted by News 18.

“We started his training from Wednesday and I rectified his couple of mistakes. He will be in Mumbai till June 2, training with me and the teenager terms the assignment as a challenge. He might play for his country. He looks focused and wants to become a good cricketer. We have been told not to give him anything luxurious and he is residing at an ordinary hotel. He is a good learner. Today he wasn’t able to balance while batting, so I guided him about it,” he added.