Sachin Tendulkar Reveals Why He Tied Up With Middlesex For His Academy

Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar has opened up on what prompted him to tie up with Middlesex to launch his cricket academy – The Tendulkar Middlesex Global Academy. 

The former India batsman revealed that he turned down several offers before tying up with the English county outfit. He also said that it took nearly 10 months to put things together before forming the partnership.  Tendulkar revealed that Middlesex’s rich heritage convinced him to join forces with them.

The academy will provide coaching for nine to 14-year-olds.Merchant Taylor’s School in Northwood will host the first camp in August before more in Mumbai and London. The academy will also provide opportunities for talented underprivileged children through 100 scholarships.

“When you’re getting into a partnership, you don’t start with a tail-ender, you start with a solid batsman at the non-striker’s end. I could clearly see that in Middlesex, given their history and contribution to cricket in England,” Tendulkar told Hindustan Times.

He also said that the academy will organise a camp in India when the weather is suitable.

“Because the summer is going on, we’re going to start with London. And when the conditions allow us to have a camp here, we’re going to have it in November when the rains would have stopped,” he added.

Honing youngsters’ cricketing skills will undoubtedly be the primary focus of the newly-launched academy. But Tendulkar insisted the academy would also promote sporting culture,

“I’ve always maintained that India is a sport-loving nation, not a sport-playing nation. So, the whole vision is to build a big club like how we have Cricket Club of India or a Bombay Gymkhana where there will be a cricket academy but the club will also have tennis courts, squash courts, badminton, table tennis, swimming pool, billiards, pool and all those things,” he said.

He further said the budding cricketers would undergo trials before stating that the underprivileged children will get full support.

“We are going to look at how promising the kid is. Scholarships will be mainly given to the underprivileged ones, where they can’t afford to pay fees and all those kind of things. We will not allow these financial obstacles to come in their way. We want to support the child and let him/her chase their dreams,” he said.

Tendulkar is the most decorated batsman in the history of international cricket. He retired with almost every major batting record to his name. The only man to score 100 international centuries, Tendulkar is the highest run-scorer in Tests and ODIs. He is also the highest centurion in Tests and ODIs in addition to being the first man to score a double century in ODIs.