TAKING a leaf out of the BCCI’s priorities for young cricketers, former India pacer and Mumbai Indians scout TA Sekar, advised youngsters not to play Twenty20 format. Sekar was in the city to distribute prizes to Mumbai Indian’s inter-school winners. “BCCI conducts no T20 cricket for players under the age of nineteen. And it is a very good decision. There are some (ready many) strokes that are played in the shortest format which are not good for any developing young cricketer. In that age group, more thrust be on playing day games with red balls,” said Sekar while interacting with the media on sidelines of prize distribution function at Kurvey’s School ground on Thursday.

 

Appreciating MI’s venture, Sekar said, “MI school cricket is a very good initiative as it gives ample opportunities to budding cricketers to showcase their skills. The format assures at least three games for a team and if the team does well, it can play three ore games till the final. The grass-root level activities will surely help in finding future stars.”

On two Indians (Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel) making Test debut on Thursday, Sekar said, “There is no bigger joy than playing for India. It is a huge achievement in the courtly where there are over 1.4 billion people. I congratulate Sarfaraz for his good knock and welcome him to the fold.” Once India relied on spinners and now the nation boasts of the best fast bowling unit in the world. “Spinners ruled for decades. Change was imminent and to me speedsters bring excitement to cricket,” Sekar signed off.