Jhulan Goswami and John Wright train MI Junior Champions

Jhulan Goswami (Photo Source: MI/Twitter)

Former Mumbai Indians and India coach John Wright and former India cricketer Jhulan Goswami passed on their cricketing experience to the winners of the third edition of the MI Junior Inter-School Cricket Tournament’s Mumbai leg on Sunday, May 21. Every year the winners of MI Juniors get a chance to attend an exclusive coaching session by members of the MI coaching staff.

Teams from three winning schools namely Swami Vivekanand, Borivali (Boys U14 Team), Shardashram Vidyamandir (Girls U15 Team) and Anjuman Islam, CST (Boys U16 Team), got a chance to get guidance from two prominent names of the cricketing fraternity.

Talking about the session, Goswami said that she had great fun interacting with the kids and credited Mumbai Indians to take such initiatives for young kids.

“It was a lot of fun. They are so intelligent. They know what to do. When I asked certain questions, they gave spontaneous responses. I was really impressed. When I was young, I was not that prompt. They understand their games really well and it is a credit to their respective coaches back home. It is creditable that Mumbai Indians are taking such initiatives for young boys and girls,” said Goswami.

Wright also reflected on the session and said that the kids were enthusiastic and there was special emphasis put on fielding as it is fielding that brings the team together.

“It was very enjoyable. The kids were very enthusiastic. There were various skill levels. Some of them were of a very high standard. We tried to make it enjoyable for them. They were very enthusiastic and we emphasized a lot on the fielding. It is fielding that brings a team together,” said Wright.

MI Junior was played across iconic grounds in Mumbai, Pune & Nagpur

The kids were put through a set of various training and fielding drills and also got a chance to ask their questions to the respected coaches where girls began first, and then followed by the two boys teams.

Notably, over 400 teams with around 3500 boys and girls participated across three age groups of Boys U14, Girls U15 and Boys U16 in the third edition of MI Junior. The tournament was played across iconic grounds in Mumbai, Pune & Nagpur.

MI Junior is an initiative started by Mumbai Indians owner Mrs Nita Ambani who has been a supporter of making sports a part of the educational curriculum through Reliance Foundation including ESA (Education and Sports for All).