By IANS
New Delhi : Former India cricket coach Greg Chappell Wednesday selected five youngsters from over 1,200 for a 10-day training camp under the Cricket Star Twenty20 programme in Jaipur.
Naman Sharma, a 21-year-old all-rounder from Ghaziabad who has already represented Uttar Pradesh in an under-22 tournament, Gaurav Goel (20/batsman/Meerut), Abhishek Singh (19/pacer/Delhi), Bharat Awasthi (20/left-arm spinner/Kanpur) and Ravinder Solanki (19/pacer/Braeilly) were selected at the conclusion of the two-day trials at the Jamia Millia Islamia University campus.
The winners will be trained at the Rajasthan Cricket Academy housed in the Sawai Man Singh Stadium complex in Jaipur. The academy, which was formally opened in November, has world-class facilities. The youngsters will also go through army-style training to develop physical fitness.
As part of the Cricket Star Twenty20 search programme, which is in its second year, Chappell and bio-mechanist Ian Frazer have visited six cities – Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Delhi – and will round off the search with the trials in Jaipur Thursday.
A Cricket Star organiser said he was overwhelmed by the response for the trials at the beautiful university ground.
“We allowed some youngsters to appear for trials even this morning. In all, we had about 1,200 to 1,400 youngsters appearing. They came from far-flung areas of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana,” he said.
Former Australia captain Chappell, who was the Indian team coach from 2005 to 2007, was also happy at the turnout.
“I am amazed by the amount of cricket talent in Delhi. The turn-out for the trials was huge,” he said.
“The young talent that we have discovered here is amazing and I am sure with the right guidance and coaching many of them can make it big in the cricket world.”
Chappell said that unlike the first edition of Cricket Star, the reality show, the second edition would not be televised.
Former India captain Kapil Dev was part of the first edition. He has since severed his ties with the Board of Control for Cricket in India by joining the rebel Indian Cricket League and, therefore, cannot be part of Cricket Star as it is linked to the Rajasthan Cricket Association, a BCCI affiliate.