Brand CSK does a star act in small towns

THE INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL) is in its 18^th year. The longevity speaks for its popularity. Ever since the advent of IPL, the sporting ecosystem has undergone a huge metamorphosis. For one, it has ushered in an era of franchisee system in the Indian sporting arena. Another, it has triggered the emergence of veritable sporting tal­ent from the hinterlands. New standards have come into play. And sports is turning out to be an increasingly professional field. Not surprisingly, a robust business ecosystem has already started emerging around sports of all kinds. Chennai Super Kings (CSK), is a highly adored team. With the indefatigable M S Dhoni around, CSK is even more loveable among myriad fans. N Srinivasan-promoted Chennai Super Kings Cricket Limited and owns the team. Having been in the field of cricket man­agement for several decades now, the owners are aware of the need for developing and fostering an environment that enables cricket talent to sprout across the canvas and geographies. Well, Super Kings Academy, a premier cricket training initiative by Super Kings Ventures Pri­vate Limited, a wholly- owned subsidiary of Chennai Super Kings Cricket Limited, is at the forefront driving this initiative.

Within two years of launch, Super Kings Academy will soon be touching 25 centres across the world including in the US, UK and Australia. To take high-end professional cricket coaching to every corner of Tamil Nadu, the Super Kings Academy has opened centres in small towns such as Vellore, Hosur, Tiruppur, Karaikudi and Tirunelveli. The academy is focusing on tier-2 and -3 towns in Tamil Nadu and very soon, will expand into more smaller towns in the state.

COACH FROM NEW ZEALAND

To anchor and lead the coaching side, the academy roped in Sriram Krishnamurthy in early 2023 as the head coach. Sriram had been a coach in New Zealand work­ing with the likes of Kane Williamson, Neil Wagner and Trent Boult. It was his mentoring that had led Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway to scale up to the national level. Sriram had worked with him for almost a month at the Super Kings Academy prior to the test series against India late last year and Rachin answered with a century in the first test and a 60 in the second, playing a pivotal role in securing a 3-0 series win for New Zealand. Rachin was the player of the series in the recently-concluded Champions Trophy.

EMPLOYMENT IN REMOTE TOWNS

In the period he has been there, the academy has expand­ed from two centres to 13 in Tamil Nadu and continues to expand. Particularly impressive has been the growth of the academy in small towns. Sriram with his manage­ment team has hired over 125 coaches to work in these places. Interestingly, most of these coaches are aged below 30 and this is a professional career that had not been previously available. To provide long-term finan­cial security, these coaches have been presented with PF, gratuity and other benefits as part of their pay package to give them the confidence that they should be in this for the long haul.

EXPOSURE FOR TEENAGE CRICKETERS

For long, the district cricketers were envious of the op­portunities and exposure that city cricketers had. With the emergence of the academy, that is no more the case. Around 2,000 cricketers in Tamil Nadu are now being coached in the academy at different locations and a number of them are now getting exposure to play league cricket in Chennai.

Sriram told that he is happy that the impact of this coaching ecosystem is positively impacting the district cricketers. “Boys and girls from remote towns are now making their way into the TN age group squads as can be seen from their contribution in the current season. Our academy students are being spotted and picked by the first division teams and it is an indication of the real progress made by then,” said K S Viswanathan.

FRANCHISE ROUTE TO EXPANSION

The Super Kings Academy is taking the franchise model to expand its network. Given the popularity of the CSK brand, demand has been pouring from entrepreneurs in small towns to take to the academy franchise. The initial investment is in the range of Rs. 45-50 lakh.

WORLD CLASS CRICKET INFRASTRUCTURE

Chief Executive Officer of CSK, K S Viswanathan is pleased with the progress made by the academy in the last two years. “In a short period of time, we have been able to attract good coaches as well as students to our academy. Having come from a small town (Kallidaiku­richi) near Tirunelveli, the cricketing opportunities in south Tamil Nadu were very limited in the 1960s and 70s and I had to come to Chennai to get the much-needed exposure. Today, through the Super Kings Academy, we have been able to take cricket coaching to the interiors of the state and young boys in the districts have access to the best of cricketing infrastructure, The results are there to see with district cricketers making their way into the state squad in age group cricket,” he pointed. “Also, as a business opportunity, the CSK brand has been able to attract franchisees in small towns in Tamil Nadu and that has helped expand the Academy quite rapidly in the last two years,” he added.

The Super Kings Academy will expand to at least 35 centres across the world, including other states in India and within Tamil Nadu. Professional cricket coaching backed by corporates is here to stay and CSK is leading the way by providing the best infrastructure possible for the budding cricketers in the districts to get an early exposure and to showcase their talent.