Imphal/Dimapur, May 6: Two young cricketers from Nagaland and Manipur are making waves in the junior circuit, catapulting the two traditionally non-cricketing states into the game’s map.
R. Jonathan Longkumer of Nagaland and Richard Khumallambam of Manipur have many things in common. Hailing from non-cricketing states, both have honed their skills “outside” and they have the capability to make it big. While Richard took to cricket in Calcutta, Jonathan started chucking the cherry in Bangalore.
All-rounder Jonathan has been selected for trials for the junior national team, while medium pacer Khumallambam, still looking for the big break, is set to become the first cricketer from Manipur to tour England with a Calcutta club. The selection of the duo will give a big boost to the game in these states.
Jonathan — member of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) and South Zone junior teams — struck a purple patch last year with his consistency with bat and ball. He even managed to attract the Cricket Club of India, which enlisted him as one of its trainees, and got sports goods manufacturer, SG Company, as his sponsor.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selected his as one of the probables for national junior team following his highwire performance in the inter-state and inter-zonal meets. The all-rounder will undergo intensive training in the Bangalore-based National Cricket Academy for two months from July.
Jonathan is attending the Cricket Club of India’s camp in Mumbai, which will run up to June, and join the national academy the very next month.
The Calcutta-based Bodyline Cricket Club has selected Richard for a 25-day under-15 cricket tour to the United Kingdom — Somerset, Gloucestershire, Bristol and Wiltshire — from among hundreds of its trainees.
The 12-year-old son of Kh. Biren Singh and Kh. Sunita Devi of Yaiskul Sougaijam Leikai is a student of Class VII. He is studying in Calcutta, where his father was posted at the Manipur Bhavan, from Class II onwards.
A trainee at the Calcutta Cricket Coaching Centre, Richard took up cricket on August 17, 2001 under the guidance of coach Ritin Bose.
He was picked for the tour by the club’s selection board, comprising former Indian cricketer Gopal Bose and coach Moloy Banerjee. He is among the 25 cricketers selected for the tour. The team will leave India in the first week of June. They will play some matches against local clubs there and based on their performance, some of them might be picked by the UK cricket authorities for advanced training.
Fifty per cent of the total expenditure of Rs 1.5 lakh per cricketer is being sponsored by the Bodyline Club, while the remaining amount will have to be borne by the player.
