Chennai Super Kings cricketers Noor Ahmad and Vijay Shankar visited the Super Kings Academy centre at SV High School in Vanagaram, Chennai, for a special session with the children on Friday.
Lakshmi Narayanan (Chennai Super Kings High Performance Analyst), Louis Mariano (Director of Cricket, Super Kings Academy), Rajiv Krishna (Managing Director, SV High School), Moushmi Rajiv (Director, SV High School), and Dhivakar (MI Sports) were the other guests of honour.
Super Kings Academy has more than 25 centres spread across India, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
During an interaction with the school children, all-rounder Vijay Shankar advised them not to waste time thinking about what others are doing and rather invest that time in their own improvement.
“It is always a special feeling to come to any academy. Starting your journey from academy cricket to state-level cricket and then going step by step, it is a never-ending thing. Even Sachin Tendulkar, towards the end of his career, said that learning is one thing that never stops.
He advised all the parents to support their children at all times — in their highs and lows.
“To all parents, if not for my parents, I would not have been here. As parents, please support your kids at any point, be it highs or lows. Another thing I learnt from MS Dhoni – whether it is highs or lows, try to remain neutral. At one point, I had a dream of standing and giving a speech to you students, today I am able to do that. So dream of all these things. Wishing you all the very best. Whatever you do, enjoy your cricket.”
On the occasion, Afghanistan spinner Noor Ahmad said he does not think too much about taking wickets during the match but rather tries to bowl well.
“I don’t think a lot about taking wickets. When I go to the nets, my focus is not just on wickets. My focus is just to bowl well, bowl in the right areas, and wickets are the result. If I bowl in the right place, then wickets will come. I don’t think about so many things – who is the batter, but I always focus on my own strengths and how I can apply them against the batter. I keep it simple.”
The Super Kings Academy is a coaching centre for boys and girls with state-of-the-art infrastructure and expert coaching with more than 25 academies across India, the USA, the UK, and Australia.
Launched in April 2022, the academy is currently operational in Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Salem, Trichy, Hosur, Tirunelveli, Karaikudi, Vellore, Madurai, Tenkasi, Puducherry and Delhi in India apart from international centres in Reading (United Kingdom), Dallas (USA), Phoenix (USA), Austin (USA), Boston (USA), Atlanta (USA), Bay Area (USA) and Sydney (Australia).
The Chennai Super Kings are currently out of contention in the IPL 2025 as they are at the bottom of the points table with six points from 12 matches.
