In a first, MCA to buy first class passes for Mumbai cricketers’ local travel

MUMBAI: The visuals and stories of Mumbai’s young cricketers travelling from far-flung areas in crowded trains, lugging their kit bags on their shoulders or somehow adjusting them near the compartment door, have long been romanticized. It's the sort of grind that makes a Mumbai cricketer ‘khadoos’ (gritty), they say.
However, it's not an easy ride, particularly for those who have hardly any money in their pocket, and have to travel long distances to fulfill their cricketing dreams.
In a major, first of its kind decision which will provide relief to the junior cricketers, particularly from humble backgrounds, the Mumbai Cricket Association has decided to provide First Class passes for local train travel and travel allowances to all the trainees selected for the Off Season Camp in various categories (U-14, U-16, U-19 Boys and U-15, U-19, U-23, Senior Women). There are 30 trainees in each age group team of the MCA. Since the facility is being provided to eight age group teams (the senior men's team is being excluded because it's members are well-paid already, the MCA will end up purchasing first-class tickets for around 240-250 trainees (both boys and girls).
The decision, an initiative of MCA president Ajinkya Naik, was taken at the association’s apex council meeting on Friday.
“A few days ago, a simple decision to travel in a local train to avoid the unrelenting traffic of the city helped me understand what difficulties that the cricket body's junior cricketers, most of whom are from humble backgrounds, go through. I saw that three-four of our junior trainee cricketers were caught by the TC for not buying a ticket, and were crying. After paying off their fine, I realized that they were from really poor backgrounds and didn't have the capacity to purchase tickets for the first-class compartment. A lot of these kids travel daily from far-off places like Virar, Vasai, Dahanu, Palghar, Navi Mumbai, Panvel, Dombivli and Chinchani. I decided to do something about the situation,” Ajinkya Naik told Mumbai Mirror.
“I decided to meet all the trainee cricketers from our age group teams on a one on one basis and realized that travel and good expenses were the major obstacles to their cricket. Some of them didn't even have the money to board an autorickshaw from BKC after training, to go to the station, and would walk back with their heavy cricket kits on their young, fragile shoulders. I decided that we provide all our age group teams’ cricketers, except the senior team players, with first class train tickets and additionally, will give them an allowance of Rs 3000-5000 per month to meet their daily expenses. While there is money in the game from the Ranji Trophy onwards, it is the cricketers at the grassroots who need better financial support and facilities,” Ajinkya Naik asserted.
Indeed, while cricketers at the Ranji Trophy level stand to earn at least Rs 25-50 lakhs a season-this figure can easily go into crores for those playing in the IPL and for India-those slogging it out to become a cricketer still struggle for basic things like comfortable travel and proper nutrition.
It is at this stage that the association must invest to build a cricketer. And this is why the MCA must be lauded for this initiative.