MS Dhoni opens his own cricket academy in Dubai

What's the story?

India's World Cup-winning captain MS Dhoni will set up his own cricket academy at the Dubai Pacific Sports Club in the United Arab Emirates. According to Parvez Khan from Pacific Ventures, it will be called the MS Dhoni Cricket Academy (MSDCA).

"Sports has attained a global stature not just for fostering athleticism and sportsmanship, but also as a viable business platform that involves many different stakeholders, from small businesses to big conglomerates and organisations. I am delighted to be a part of the club and will contribute in any means possible to make it a success," said the Indian wicketkeeper in a conversation with Gulf News.

In case you didn't know...

Many Indian cricketers like Harbhajan Singh, Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag have established cricket academies of their own.

This will be Dhoni's first venture of its kind and the former Indian skipper clearly is delighted at the concept of making it work.

The details

Khan stated that Dhoni will be the brand ambassador of the academy and will fly down to Dubai frequently to give hands-on training to the kids training therein.

He also added that since this is the first time that a cricketer is launching his academy in Dubai, it is an extremely promising prospect for the city. He revealed that the place will boast of grade A coaching and training as well as strategic sports development programmes of the highest level.

What's next?

Dhoni retired from Test cricket in 2014

The fact that the big-hitting batsman does not play Test cricket anymore will definitely work well for this academy. He will be able to give a substantial amount of time for the one-on-one training of the best students of the academy.

It will definitely help promote cricket in the UAE and pave the way for similar avenues to be developed in the country in the future.

Author's take

They say that you should leave the game better than you found it. Dhoni, who is now on the last lap of his international career, is doing exactly that.

It is heartwarming to see that the veteran of Indian cricket is taking steps towards promoting the game in other countries and inspiring kids to go ahead and pick up the cricket bat/ball.