Sourav Ganguly to coach Tripura U-16 and U-19 teams

Agartala: Former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly on assured the Tripura Cricket Association (TCA) that he will return to the state in November to coach the Under-16 and Under-19 teams, TCA secretary Sourav Dasgupta said on Monday. “I have been looking forward for such annual prize giving functions when I was playing cricket. This is a very important function and every cricketer waits for such an occasion. I will return here to train young cricketers. For cricket, infrastructure is important, but for cricketers it is more important how we use the existing infrastructure,” he said at a prize distribution ceremony of the Association Sunday night. [caption id=“attachment_2250420” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File picture of Sourav Ganguly. AFP[/caption] “In cricket, most important is pitch. We have to pay attention to making good pitches,” he said. Ganguly said T-20 cricket was very popular now, but the organisers would have to pay attention to organising one-day matches, because that would produce good cricketers. Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, who felicitated Ganguly and also spoke at the ceremony, said the playground is the real ground to fight against any kind of communalism. State sports minister Sahid Chowdhury criticised the Centre for changing the funding pattern of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan (RGKA) scheme. “The states used to get 100 per cent grant under the RGKA to build various sports infrastructure, but the central government changed the funding patter to 50:50,” he said. He stressed that considering the backwardness of the North Eastern region, the Centre should sanction 100 per cent grant for development of talents in the region. PTI