Sunil Gavaskar

Guwahati, Aug. 28: Sunil Gavaskar, the original Little Master, would surely be both hurt and amused with the Assam Cricket Association (ACA) for “not being careful with facts.” For, according to the association, there is no foundation named after the living legend in the country at all.

While dealing with promising off-spinner Bitop Mahanta, who had toured the UK with the foundation from July 20 to August 8 without its permission, the ACA has jumped the gun in summarily dismissing as “non-existent” the Sunil Gavaskar Foundation for cricket in Bengal.

ACA secretary Bikash Baruah had said on August 20 that neither the ACA nor the Cricket Association of Bengal has any knowledge about the existence of the foundation in Bengal. “It seems he (Mahanta) is trying to fool us,” he had said. Bitop has since apologised for his oversight to the Guwahati Sports Association, who has requested the ACA not to take any further action against him.

But independent inquiries by The Telegraph have revealed that the foundation is quite popular among junior cricketers seeking exposure during the off season. As many as seven junior cricketers from the state have toured with the foundation since it undertook its first trip to the UK in the 2001 season.

The SGF is a charitable trust founded on April 22, 1996 with a view to establish an organisation for preservation and propagation of cricket and to promote the development of the game among youngsters of eastern India, which is rich in talent but lacks infrastructure and technical inputs.

Organised by the West Bengal government, the foundation is run by former cricketer Raju Mukherjee from the Jadavpur stadium complex at Kishore Bharati Krirangan, Santoshpur. It has on its four-member board of trustees such sporting personalities as Sunil Gavaskar, former hockey Olympian Vece Paes and former tennis player Naresh Kumar.

What is more, the 18-member foundation team that toured Somerset included one more promising spinner from the state. It had players from Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

Youngsters from Assam, who hardly get to play competitive cricket from May to August because of the rains, had been touring with the foundation since its first trip and have done reasonably well for themselves. The tours are very well-organised, with the foundation team getting to play against outfits from Australia.

On its first trip in 2001, opener Diganta Dowerah of Tinsukia and Mahanta of Guwahati excelled with the bat and the ball. Others who have toured with the foundation from Assam since 2001 are left-arm spinner Avinash Sharma, batsman Nayan Karmakar, all-rounder Devojit Bhuyan and S. Ramesh Kumar.

Apart from grooming needy cricketers, the foundation also imparts training in coaching and umpiring and has tie-ups with Peerless Hospital and Young Horizon School for outstation trainees. Its trainees play for various clubs in CAB leagues.