Dhiman, Pinal Shah to train in Brisbane under cricket scholarship

Sydney, June 27 (UNI) Youth world cup cricket stars Gaurav Dhiman and Pinal Shah and Mumbai batsman Kshemal Vaingankar are heading for Brisbane this week to start their six-week training under the Border-Gavaskar scholarship programme.

The programme, supported by the Australia-India Council (AIC) and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was aimed at providing India's most talented young cricketers with training and match practice in Australian conditions at Commonwealth Bank Centre of Excellence (CBCE).

Part of the programme will see the players compete in the Emerging Players Tournament next month, giving them some valuable match practice in Australian conditions.

Selections were made by a BCCI committee, chaired by Sunil Gavaskar, on the basis of their performance in under-19 and under-22 tournaments, also taking into account the potential and specialisation of each player.

Right-hand opening batsman and a right-arm medium pace bowler, Dhiman was a member of the India under-19 team for the last World Cup in Colombo. He was also a member of the Karnataka State Cricket Association team which visited Australia last year.

Shah, a Baroda wicket-keeper and right-hand middle order batsman, was a member of National Cricket Academy (NCA) under-19 squad and Dhiman's teammate in the under-19 World Cup, while Mumbai right-arm medium-pacer Vaingankar was also a product of NCA in under-22 category.

Mohammad Kaif, Parthiv Patel, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Shiv Sunder Das, Suresh Raina and Gautam Gambhir were among the previous recipients of the scholarship.

Welcoming the three young players, AIC Chairman Darren Gribble said the AIC was delighted to continue to support a programme that provides such a valuable opportunity for emerging young players.

''These scholarships play an important part in AIC's programme to promote mutual understanding through exchanges in many areas, including sport,'' Gribble said in a statement.

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