The 'Other' Indian Team, Living Its Dream in Australia
While the Indian team is in Australia well on their way to defending the World title, there is another Indian team down under that is learning to play the sport the Aussie way. It is called the 'dream team' and not because it's made up of superstars, but because 15 youngsters are literally living their dream.
- Nikhil Naz
- Updated: February 26, 2015 01:59 PM IST
How often does a school level cricketer get the opportunity to interact and learn from an international star? But a handful of Indian cricketers got the golden opportunity to pick the brains of one of the fastest bowlers ever to have played the sport: Shaun Tait.
Called the 'Dream Team', 15 young school students were selected out of 450 boys from across India to come and play cricket with junior level teams in Australia. The team comprises students from different backgrounds, many of whom had never even sat in an aircraft before, let alone travel to a foreign country.
"I had never seen either a airplane or even a airport before. It was such a great experience to see airport and planes. I felt very nice when the aircraft took off and I got to see the wonderful scenery", said Taun Deore, a 15 year old from Dhulia in Maharashtra.
Another 15 year old, Ranjeet Singh from Banaras added, "Australia is even more beautiful than I ever expected. In fact I had never left Indian shores before and hence couldn't even imagine what Australia would be like."
The entire expenditure of the 15 day tour has been borne by the government of South Australia. The initiative is aimed at improving relations between the two countries and provide opportunity to young Indian kids who don't have access to good facilities and coaching.
"The age that they are at to get the opportunity to be able to come to Australia during the Cricket World Cup and at the same time play some games and get some good coaching. I'm sure they'll go back and improve from this experience", Former Australian World Cup winner Shaun Tait told NDTV.
Ranjeet Singh added, "The way they warm-up for the matches here in Australia is so good. We learnt some very interesting training drills here that will help us become better cricketers."
On the field, the 'Dream Team' lived up to its name, winning seven out of the eight games they played against schools in and around Adelaide.
But playing cricket wasn't the only thing on their agenda. Watching international cricket was part of the plan too, as the entire team got the golden opportunity to see India beat Pakistan at the Adelaide Oval on the 15th of Feb.
Cameron Borgas, former first-class Australian cricketer and the man in charge of coaching the 'Dream Team' during their visit to Australia told NDTV, "They are doing some exciting stuff everyday, playing lots of cricket and also doing touristy type of activities outside their cricket time. So really it is a trip of a lifetime for them. Hopefully, they can make the most of it and take some skills back to India"
For years Indian teams have struggled on Australian shores, largely because of the alien conditions. But exposure this early in a cricketers careers may help tackle that particular problem. However, one would have thought that the Indian authorities would take initiatives like this, but instead it is the Australian government that is helping Indian cricket improve.