BIPIN DANI
Bangladesh's Test captain Shakib Al Hasan is the most popular cricketer in this country. One can see the advertisement hoardings displaying his photo at the airport, malls, and several prominent places in the capital city. It is no surprise the young kids dreaming of becoming cricketers like him join his personal academy.
"Yes, he is the only current cricketer running an academy (Masco Shakib Cricket Academy)", the former coach of the BCB and the Singapore Cricket Association, who is now the head coach of the Shakib's academy, says.
This academy was established in 2021 in a green village site at Kanchan, Rupgonj, Narayangonj, which is about 30 km from the SBNS (Shere Bangla National Stadium).
"We have a nice cricket ground with 4 center wickets and 9 outside turf wickets and 2 cement wickets, apart from an indoor cricket center, 2 floors gym facilities which cater about 60 students with their accommodation", Mohammed Salahuddin said.
"There is no age limit for the students, anyone can get admission here. We have students of the age Under 10, 14, 16 and 18 then have 3 senior groups also, who all are admitted after seeing their trials".
"We have different categories of elite players who also train here. The national players Mominul, Zakir Hasan, Md Mithun, Imrul Kayes and many premier players come here to train. We allow national women players to train".
Incidentally, Sharmin Akhter Supta, the opening batter in the women's national team, is a student of this academy.
"We have a lot of young talented players and so we are hopeful that few of them will play for the national team in future", the coach concluded.
Shakib is very busy with his playing and other endorsement commitments and cannot make it to visit his own academy frequently but now as the recent bilateral series against India is over, may soon find time to visit future stars.
