Dubai: Budding cricketers in the UAE were put through a rigorous examination of their batting technique and offered expert tips to raise their game at the Maxtalent Global Sports Annual Master Batting Class conducted by former India and current Afghanistan coach Lalchand Rajput at Al Nasr Sports Club in Dubai.
After the Maxtalent Master Spin Class by Saqlain Mushtaq at the 2017 summer camp, the winter camp signed off in style with Rajput’s Master Batting Class sessions.
The sessions drew an overwhelming response from young cricketers aged between 12 and 19 given the holiday period and Rajput’s highly-regarded coaching style. Maxtalent on their part did their best to sound out promising players from academies and schools and the efforts paid off handsomely with aspiring cricketers from as far afield as Abu Dhabi and Fujairah in attendance on all four days of the programme.
Rajput, a retired cricketer who played two Tests and four One Day Internationals for India in the 1980s, is currently the head coach of the Afghan national team.
He previously coached the Under-19 India cricket team and served as manager of the Indian senior team ahead of their triumph at the Twenty20 World Championship in 2007 in South Africa.
Rajput subsequently went on to coach the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League in 2008.
In June 2016, he was named as head coach of Afghanistan’s national team, replacing Inzamam-ul-Haq, and has been hugely instrumental in getting Afghanistan Test status.
He also held administrative positions with the Mumbai Cricket Association.
In Dubai, Rajput used India captain Virat Kohli as his batting example.
“It is not only interest in the game that will allow you to scale new heights in cricket. It is also daily fitness, focus, 100 per cent commitment and, above all, maintaining strict self-imposed sacrifice and committed discipline both on and off field. This will add up to one’s total work ethic and will take you a long way,” he told the young players.
Besides imparting in-depth analysis of batting technique to the eager trainees, Rajput also offered advice on correcting batting flaws to those struggling with technical problems.
