'I plan to start nine academies in nine different places,' says Kirti Azad ahead of DDCA elections

New Delhi, Nov 11 : Former India cricketer-turned-politician Kirti Azad, who announced his intention to run for the top position in the upcoming DDCA elections by filing his candidature on November 19 has promised to promote club cricket by opening new academies in nine different places.

From December 13-15, the DDCA will hold elections for all members of the apex council, including five office bearers and seven directors. The election results will be announced on December 16.

The 2021 DDCA elections saw Rohan Jaitley emerge victorious in the president’s race, receiving 1658 votes while his opponent, Vikas Singh, received 662 votes.

"I was going to do it on the 14th, but I will do it on the 19th. It’s because I have to go to my constituency due to some urgency," confirmed Azad, currently a Member of Parliament for the Trinamool Congress from Bardhaman–Durgapur, in a conversation with IANS on Monday.

“I plan to start nine academies in nine different places. Like, take the ground, and have a contract saying that we’ll maintain the ground. Plus, we’ll pay your groundsman, and give us your ground. It’s because now you have so many private academies.”

Azad, a member of the 1983 ODI World Cup winning team, stated he will wait to see what other candidates pledge before revealing his own promises upon filing his nomination on November 19.

"I’m waiting for others to say something - like, what do they write? What are they going to talk about? So, I’m just waiting for it. After all, they promised a lot in the last elections. So, obviously, they’re going to give the report card."

When outlining his major objectives, Azad stressed the importance of prioritizing club member facilities and managing cricket activities effectively. “It has become a commercial venture. So, we will be actually doing work for the betterment of the facilities of members and eradicating complete corruption that is there in cricket and membership, apart from the financial malfeasance that is taking place in DDCA.”

Another item on Azad’s list f objectives is the promotion of cricket at the school, university, and club levels, with the intention of nurturing the next generation of male and female cricketers from Delhi.

“Well, yes, we have to promote club cricket. We have so many of them coming from outside, and taking admission in colleges, then taking residences and qualifying to play for Delhi. But where is the talent that were originally from Delhi getting into teams? Like we had superb, talented players in my playing time.”

“There were so many who had to leave Delhi and go play for different states. Why is it that people from other states are coming to Delhi and playing, while we don’t have the original pool that we had during our time? At one point, there were eight university boys in the Ranji Trophy team playing under Bishan Singh Bedi. So, we’ve got to promote school cricket, university cricket, and club cricket, which is basically the cradle for youngsters to come up.”

Azad elaborated on his goal to support deaf, blind, and physically challenged cricketers in Delhi, including plans to provide affordable training grounds for those who cannot afford cricket training in expensive academies.

“After all, this game has become so popular - it’s not only played by men or women. So, we’ve got to see to it that all the aspects of the game played by various groups should be encouraged.”

“People are charging 35 to 40 to 50,000 rupees per child. Then there are these players who are eklavvyas - who can’t afford these fees, but have great talent. So, through these academies, we’ll bring them up,” he concluded.