Irfan Pathan launches his cricket academy in Bengaluru, to employ latest coaching tech

Irfan Pathan last played an international cricket match for India in 2012 but that hasn’t dimmed his enthusiasm when it comes to nurturing the next generation of talent. On Saturday, he launched his swing clinic - Cricket Academy of Pathans (CAP), in Bengaluru, at a press conference at Haralur Road. 

This is the 10th academy of CAP and its first coaching centre in the south. 

CAP will provide budding cricketers an ideal platform to hone their skills and rub shoulders with the best in the business.

The initiative was started by the Pathan brothers-Irfan and Yusuf, two years back with the aim of giving something back to the game. 

Speaking at the launch, Irfan said, “Cricket is 80% mental and 20% physical.” 

“We have no dearth of talent in India. It’s just that they need to be mentored, trained and guided in the right direction. Our coaches work with chosen players to offer personalised and specialised mentoring to develop techniques that help build confidence and self-belief. So that when you take your guard or mark your run-up in the big arena, you feel right at home,” he added.

Irfan also played with the students and interacted with the parents.

The academy caters to both boys and girls, from ages 6 to 21. There are various coaching modules, starting from introductory module and it goes up to seven modules, with each module having effectively a duration of four months. There is special emphasis on Sports Science including talks on nutrition and diet plans given to each student. The academy also has on board physiotherapists and psychologists, catering to the requirements of the students.

It has among its ranks cricketing legends like Greg Chappell and promises to use a technology-driven approach to cricketing excellence. The academy is powered by ‘PitchVision’, a state-of-the-art cricket coaching technology developed in the UK, which helps the coaches track the overall progress of players on a day-to-day basis. 

This innovative technology will aid coaches and provide comprehensive data of every ball played on its unique digital platform along with a mobile phone app which will allow the students and parents to communicate with the Pathan brothers as well as coaching staff and also get access to coaching materials via videos.

"It’s an honour to be part of CAP that provides a great platform for our budding champions. We are happy to open the first campus in South India in Bangalore, in the green fields of Sarjapur,” said Farheen Zohra, Director, CAP, Bengaluru.

The Bangalore chapter of the CAP cricket academy boasts of two cement pitches, one turf pitch for the nets and also a mat pitch. 

CAP plans to open 20 more academies in different cities of India by mid-next year. Currently, CAP has presence in nine cities including Raipur, Noida, Surat, Sonipat, Rajkot, Delhi and will soon be launching in Patna, Pune, Kota, Indore and Hyderabad.