By Abhishek Roy, IANS,
New Delhi : Dashing all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, the Player of the Tournament of the 2011 World Cup that India won, is all set to open a state-of-the-art cricket academy in suburban Noida.
The middle-order batsman said his first academy will come up in Noida and that he plans to open the second one in Lucknow.
“It is a great moment for me and I have been planning to open an academy for a long time. The first will come up in Noida. I want to give back something to the game that gave me everything in life,” Yuvraj told IANS.
“Now I want to concentrate only on the Noida academy and then think of more such facilities. The second will surely come up in Lucknow,” he said.
Yuvraj said negotiations were on with the sponsors.
“I am still talking to sponsors and the land has been identified. The academy will have all the facilities a modern cricket academy should have. The idea is to provide young cricketers all necessary inputs,” said Yuvraj.
Punjab all-rounder Sandeep Sharma, a long-time friend of Yuvraj, will be involved with the project.
Yuvraj said that special attention will be given to fielding skills as well.
“People still expect me to field as a 20-year-old boy now and it is tough. I am 29 now and body does get a bit slow. So I can be a good fielder but I can’t be an exceptional fielder. I am still trying, but it is better to be safe than sorry. I would try to pass on the same message to the youngsters as well,” said Yuvraj.