MCA to field its academy team in various tournaments

A file picture Mumbai Cricket Association officials with age group cricketers at the MCA-BKC indoor academy in June. Pic/Shadab Khan

City cricket clubs will now face stiff competition from Mumbai Cricket Association's (MCA) Bandra-Kurla Complex indoor academy team. MCA's Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC) chief and former India pacer Raju Kulkarni revealed that his committee has decided to utilise MCA's indoor academy fully and build an academy team to give budding cricketers exposure.

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MCA's Cricket Improvement Committee chief Raju Kulkarni

"We will now also have an MCA academy team. It is MCA's new president Ajinkya Naik's idea to have an academy team and utilise the MCA academy fully. Players, who will be selected for the academy team, will not be a part of the Mumbai probables," Kulkarni told mid-day.com after CIC's meeting at BKC facility on Saturday.

"This academy team will play in local tournaments like Police, Talim and Purshottam Shields apart from other tournaments. We will also plan to tie up with Saurashtra, Baroda, Gujarat and Maharashtra Cricket Associations to play inter-academy tournaments," Kulkarni remarked.