Why Sandeep Patil won’t contest MCA prez election

Sandeep Patil

The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) will soon elect a president to take the place of the late Amol Kale, who passed away during the first part of the ongoing T20 World Cup in New York. Amidst election buzz, city cricket lovers are wondering if Sandeep Patil, who lost to Kale in the October 2022 elections, will throw his hat in the ring again. After all, the former India batting star lost the two-man president's race by a mere 25 votes. "No, I won't be contesting the forthcoming election," Patil, 67, told mid-day on Thursday. Patil indicated that he has no ill feeling over losing only one of his three MCA elections; the earlier two being for a post on the managing committee. But now, he has other things on his mind.

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Focus is towards the east

"Throughout my post-playing career, I have ventured into new opportunities with zeal - Mumbai team manager/selector, captain of Madhya Pradesh, coach of India U-19, India A, India senior team, Kenya, Oman, NCA directorship and the India chief selector honour. I dived into them and now I have done the same. "I thought I was happily retired but now I've come on board for Shrachi Sports, who are initiating cricket academies across West Bengal and the North East. Cricketers from North East often come to West Bengal to train as they lack facilities. We want to build academies for them in their own region across townships, something that Shrachi Group MD Rahul Todi has thought about," said Patil, who is delighted to have the support of Snehasish Ganguly, the president of Cricket Association of Bengal.

Bats for coaching uniformity

"He has welcomed Shrachi Sports Athelead's idea and wants us to conduct as many courses for coaches across this region to get uniformity in coaching," said Patil. He revealed that he has used the National Cricket Academy template for his upcoming projects. "I'm lucky to have my NCA friends like Dinesh Nanavati and Dr Kinjal Suratwala with me. For me, academies encapsulate a lot of facilities. It should be mini-universities and include even aspects like scoring. I'm really excited to be here. While I'm overseeing cricket, Leander Paes will do the same for tennis," he said. Despite being preoccupied with cricket development in the eastern part of the country, it can be safely presumed that Patil will be keen to see who becomes the new president at D Road, Churchgate.