Swarupam Purakayasthya, Erapalli Prasanna and Abu Naschim Ahmed at the camp in Calcutta on Tuesday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta, May 15: The fact that no player from Assam has made it to the national team till now does not bother Pritam Das. “This inspires me to play well. Maybe I will become the first player from my state to play for Team India,” he says.

The fast bowler is in Calcutta to participate in the East Zone under-19 cricket coaching camp being held at the Jadavpur University ground.

Of the 25 selected for the camp, six players are from Assam. At the end of the camp, 14 players will be selected for the All India under-19 Zonal Cricket Academy championship to be held at Bangalore later this month.

“The Assam players are really playing well. Abu Naschim Ahmed is already in the under-19 Indian team. Swarupam Purakayasthya and Sujoy Tarafdar are also playing well. Vikram Chettri is trying hard. Das and Amit Sinha are also good. I hope to see some of them in the final team we will select on the 23rd of this month,” says coach Dattatreya Mukherjee.

“We are learning a great deal at this camp. Prasanna Sir’s tips are very useful,” says all-rounder Purakayasthya, who had captained the Assam under-19 team last year in a few matches. “Being a captain is nothing new for me. I had captained the state under-15 and under-17 teams. It’s a good experience,” he adds.

The players are satisfied with the facilities being provided at the camp. Apart from bowling coach Erapalli Pranna, veteran player Pronab Roy, Rajesh Dani and Mukherjee are guiding the players.

Ahmed cannot stop talking about the tips he received from Kapil Dev. “He came here only for a day. He gave us some valuable tips to improve our bowling actions.”

Das, however, rues the poor infrastructure facilities back home. “We have only two grounds and not enough pitches to practise. Our team can do better with more practise matches”. He hopes that the Assam Cricket Association’s recent decision to provide better facilities at the grassroots level would help improve the standard of the game in the state. “We need more exposure trips,” adds Chettri.

Two players, Kaushal Acharya and Rana Dutta, are representing another northeastern state, Tripura, at the camp. “Practising with players from other states is giving us a lot of exposure,” Acharya says.