THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Akhil Chindu ,a graduate in Sanskrit from University college and a former Kerala University cricket player is now a strength and conditioning coach of the Kerala Cricket Association.Akhil starts the day at 5 am and reaches the Medical college grounds after a 25km drive The Medical College ground is being used as the Sports Authority of India(SAI) cricket coaching centre headed by Indian women’s team fielding coach Biju George. The centre has nurtured and developed several cricketing talents including Sanju Sampson, Sachin Baby, Raify Vincent Gomez ,P Prasanth and a host of other Ranji trophy and national players.
Akhil is now involved in the conditioning and strength training of children and adults who daily practice in the ground. Former Rani Trophy and IPL player P Prasanth is a regular at Akhil’s camp and owes his fitness to Akhil. “Akhil has a unique way of conditioning a player. My fitness level has improved after attending his sessions”.
Biju George, Indian women’s fielding coach is all praise for Akhil. “He is extremely hard working. After his arrival, the fitness level of the children have improved indefinitely. This is positive as modern day sports does not allow the player to compromise on his or her fitness,” Biju said. Presently Akhil is the strength coach of state Under-16 team which is practising at the Kerala Cricket Association ground in Wayanad. He was also the conditioning and strengthening coach of the Under-14 team also.
“I owe my present position in the Kerala team as its fitness and conditioning coach to Biju George who has mentored and developed me and has given me tips on how to practically implement in the field what I have learnt in theory.”
Akhil in the past has attended the conditioning camp by national fitness coach Ramji Sreenivasan at MA college, Kothamangalam. The camp was organised by Kerala Cricket Association for conditioning and strengthening coaches under the KCA in all categories.
“I’m doing a reputed strengthening and conditioning course from Australia,” he said. Biju Parameswaran, father of Abi Biju, present Under-16 state player told Express that his son who is a left arm spinner has improved a lot in conditioning and strengthening after attending the classes by Akhil. Akhil’s father Jayachandran passed away. His mother Sugandhi, according to Akhil, is his pillar of strength. He has a younger brother Nikhil.
dIGITAL Ticket sales
The ticket sales for the upcoming one-day International match between India and West Indies has kicked-off. On Wednesday, the first day of the ticket sale, tickets worth Rs 1.5 crore were sold out till 4.30 pm. The tickets for the match will be exclusively sold online. This is the first time in India that all tickets are being sold online which is a step towards ticket digitilisation. The tickets are priced at Rs 1,000 ( upper tie), Rs 2000 (lower tier chairs), Rs 3000 ( special chair). However, seats cannot be reserved in advance for tickets costing Rs 1,000. The rest of the tickets can be booked by viewing seat layouts in the Paytm app. Students can avail 50 per cent discount for tickets sold at Rs 1,000.
The tickets can be purchased via Paytm and insider.in. While entering the stadium, digital tickets or printouts need to be submitted. Students who are availing special discount need to produce identity cards of their educational institutions. There has been a ceiling placed on number of tickets that can be bought by a person. A maximum of six tickets can be only bought by a single user id. Those who buy two tickets via Paytm will get cinema tickets worth Rs 150 free. Sports Hub in Karyavattom will host the match on November 1. The online ticket sale was inaugurated by Sports Minister E P Jayarajan on Wednesday.