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SATC picks up 15 Indian school cricketers for coaching in Adelaide - Tour timed with ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

New Delhi, 05 November 2014: The Deputy Premier of South Australia The Hon. John Rau today announced the names of 15 Indian school students selected as the Dream Team 15 which will tour Adelaide, South Australia for 15 days of intensive cricket coaching and high school cricket matches in the lead up to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.

 The cricket skills based program is an initiative of the South Australian Government with a view to use Australia and India’s shared love of cricket; to build new relationships between South Australia and India, and to give a group of school students from India from a range of backgrounds an opportunity they wouldn’t ordinarily have.

 The program aims to leverage the India-South Australia sporting relationship along with further cementing mutual economic and tourism ties.

 The Dream Team comprises of students from varied backgrounds with cricket as one common passion.  Selected fifteen include Mohsin Ali from Allahabad, Biswajeet Kumar from Ballia, Ankur Tevatia ,Dabas Kunal, Gaurav Gaur and Zoravar Singh from Delhi, Tarun Deore from Dhule,  Adishiva Joshi and Sammit Pawar from Mumbai, Pranav Sharma from Lucknow, Vivek Saroha from Muzaffarnagar, Suraj Yadav from Pune,  Prathmesh Nachankar from Ratnagiri, Praveen Yadav and Ranjeet Singh from Varanasi.

 The selection of young cricket males from across different schools in India was delivered through a three-month talent hunt through trials overseen by IPL franchisee Rajasthan Royals, the Ambassador of the program.

 “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for these students. We received over 2500 applications pan India and over 450 applicants were invited to participate in selection trials in Delhi and Mumbai,” visiting South Australian Deputy Premier Rau said.

 “The Dream Team 15’s young cricketers will learn from some of our top South Australian Cricket Association coaches, train in our world class facilities and play matches against a range of similar aged teams, including an indigenous team. They also get an opportunity to watch live the blockbuster India vs. Pakistan match on 15 February 2015 before they head back home.”

 Adelaide Oval will host what is considered to be the one of the biggest matches in the ICC Cricket World Cup when the defending champions India take on Pakistan. The game is expected to attract a global audience of up to a billion.

 Rau extended a word of gratitude for the IPL Team Rajasthan Royals “who have done a great job in scouting for the best of youth cricketing talent from India.”

“The South Australian Government is planning several key initiatives with India around the 2015 Cricket World Cup and Dream Team 15 is one of them.  We are planning a business mission of leading Industrialists from India to visit Adelaide during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. Business houses will have a great opportunity to explore investment and trade opportunities alongside Cricket.”

 Rau said “South Australia is keen to engage with India in areas where we can add the greatest value to India’s continued growth and demand for skills training, technologies, energy and infrastructure, formalised through a tailored strategy called the South Australia-India Engagement Strategy, a pathway to bilateral economic development and trade.”

“South Australia’s status as the driest state in the driest inhabited continent has demanded intense focus on exploring opportunities for maximising water assets. We offer India specific expertise in irrigation, desalination, stormwater capture and reuse, and recycling of wastewater.”

“With the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 coming up, South Australia has the attention of Indian visitors. This is an exciting time for South Australia as we work to showcase our beautiful State to potential visitors from India" said Rau.

Mr. Raghu Iyer, CEO Rajasthan Royals adds “The Rajasthan Royals has always stressed on the need to identify and nurture young talent in India. Therefore, we are privileged to partner with the South Australia Government in this unique and exciting endeavor and thank them for the opportunity. We believe the Dream Team 15 - carefully chosen from among a whopping 2500 applications - will make the best of this fantastic chance to train. While we scouted for players, the three-month hunt presented us with many challenging moments thanks to the sheer quality of talent but also gave us yet another opportunity to enjoy the top-class proficiency of our high school children”.