Father builds cricket stadium for son

Dehradun:

Uttarakhand's first cricket stadium is all set to woo in the crowd, what makes it more special is that this isn't a state-funded entity, but one built solely by a father for his and his son's passion for cricket.

Eleven kilometers from the State capital of Dehradun is Abhimanyu Cricket Academy. Sprawled over 8 and a half acres, this is a brain child of a Chartered Accountant Easwaran's (Ishwaran).

For Easawarn who moved to the valley some 30 years ago, cricket was his first love which he nurtured all along and when he managed to get finances together by selling off his assets his obsession of making a cricket academy funded by himself began to take shape.

"I always had this longing to be able to do something for my son as I loved the game of
cricket and couldn't do much about it, after doing my CA in 88 I got involved in organizing
tournaments in the State and tried to re-live the game in the eyes of the players around me," Easwaran, Director of Abhimanyu Cricket Academy said.

Four years of hard work, determination and commitment has today made Abhimanyu Cricket Academy into a reality and a father's love for the game is shared with his 12 year old son Abhimanyu, Uttarakhand's cricket prodigy who has already made a mark in the Under-15 category with 48 matches, 50 innings and some 2700 runs under his belt.

"It's a very good ground and the facilities are amazing, we get to play many matches and tournaments to get exposure. We get some experience from here and the coaching facility and floodlights. We get to play under the lights and night and day matches also."

The Academy not only offers something to its players but village elders and budding players of Guniyal feel proud to have a Stadium in their backyard where they get to practice cricket one day in a month.

"We don't have any wickets in the local ground, now when we play in the stadium not only do we play but we get to learn as well," Shankar Thapa, local student said.

"It's the first of its kind stadium in Uttarakhand and it's got name for our village," Sompal, a shopkeeper of Guniyaal village proudly added.

The Academy specializes in coaching cricket to beginners, advanced, remedial and specific coaching to those seeking help. It is also has a state of the art gym and is manned by 14 groundsmen who work round the clock to keep the grounds in shape.

This maiden State of the Art Stadium in Uttarakhand is a dream come true, not only for a father, but a son as well and who knows in the near future you just might see some ace cricketers from the Academy bringing name and fame to the Indian Cricket fraternity as well.

"Our objective of coming up with this stadium is to produce cricketers from here, we look forward to producing at least 5 cricketers in the next 7 years down the line of international standard here," Easwaran said.