Ahmedabad, March 26: Indoor cricket with an Australian touch could be seen in Gujarat once the country`s biggest stadium for the sport takes shape at Koba village in Gandhinagar district.
The stadium, to be ready in a year, is being built by Mumbai-based sports training, marketing and management company Neo international Sports Academy (NISA).
The company has tied-up with Australian International Sports Academy (AISA) to help spread indoor cricket in India.
NISA will build the stadium in association with city-based Phoneix Sports and Recreation Pvt Ltd at about Rs 9 crore, NISA Vice Chairman Vidya Gaikwad told reporters here today.
"It will be among the four indoor stadia that we plan to set up in Gujarat," Gaikwad said naming Surat, Mehsana and Vadodara as the other cities where similar facilities will be
set up.
"We also plan to set up such stadia in Jaipur, Pune and Mumbai," she added.
According to Gaikwad, NISA will provide all Australian cricketing expertise, including coaching and management.
The Gandhinagar facility will be an eight-storied air-conditioned complex spread over 1,50,000 square feet and will have four separate courts.
The stadium will be equipped with food courts, sports sops, recreational facilities and will offer coaching camps, seminar halls and exposure to international standards of
playing to people of all ages.
"This complex will also have areas set aside for beach volleyball, beach soccer, hand-ball and soft-ball," Gaikwad added.
"Indoor cricket in India is still at an embryonic stage and with NISA`s help we hope to popularize this form or cricket here," said Tony Dell, CEO and Director of AISA.
"This form of cricket helps you hone your batting and fielding skills," he remarked.
Dell said NISA will help market this form of cricket in India and will provide expertise related to health, fitness, stamina, diet, training and coaching.
Explaining this form of cricket, which is popular in countries like New Zeland, South Africa, Australia and England, he said, "the entire game can be played in 90 minutes
and everyone gets to bat and bowl."
"Indoor cricket is played between two teams of eight players each," dell said adding that each player, including the wicket-keeper, must bowl two overs each.
Meanwhile, Gaikwad said NISA, affiliated to indoor cricket federation of India, will help send an indoor-cricket team to participate in the sixth Indoor World Cup to be held
in Bristol, England in September 2007.
"Former Zimbabwean bowler Eddo Brandes will be coach of the team," she added.
Bureau Report
