Players very eager to go to Namibia, says Assam men's team coach Saikia
Kolkata: It's not often in India that domestic sides embark on overseas tours to gain international exposure. Even if they do, it's mostly local teams that they play against on those tours outside the country.
So, when Assam leave for their Namibia tour on Wednesday — to take on Namibia men's national side for five one-day games as part of their pre-season training — it will be one of the rarest of overseas tours for any team in India. For Assam it's first-ever, as on their previous and only foreign tour in August 2018, they played against Sri Lankan club sides.
The 15-member squad, under the tutelage of Assam U19 coach Subhrajit Saikia, will be captained by young batter Denish Das on this African sojourn and was made battle ready with a six-day camp held at ACA Stadium in Barsapara, Guwahati, from June 11-16.
"We have been playing those exposure matches within the country so far and now we're going to another country to play against a national team. It will be a big experience for the boys to gain confidence ahead of the domestic season. They're very eager to go to Namibia," Saikia told TOI from Guwahati on Tuesday, a rest day before they depart for the tour.
"In the camp we had 24 boys, and we focused on the 15 selected for the tour.
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Ayushman Malakar is a young prospect, a U19 fast bowling all-rounder, who has been promoted to the senior side for this tour. Apart from him all the boys played domestic matches last season, so we have a pretty good squad. We did match simulation and played 40-over games during the preparatory camp since it's been pretty hot in Guwahati for the last few days," added the former first-class cricketer from Assam.
Expecting different conditions in the Namibian capital Windhoek, Saikia said his side has all bases covered.
"It's winter in Namibia now. So we are expecting the ball to move a bit there. We have four fast bowlers and three spinners. But whatever the conditions, we have the resources to overcome different situations," Saikia sounded confident of his wards.
Captain Das, meanwhile, will be one of the players to look forward to on this tour. He was the Ranji Trophy skipper last season in the absence of the most famous son of the soil Riyan Parag and the 23-year-old has led by example.
Wicketkeeper-batter Sumit Ghadigaonkar will be his deputy in Namibia.
"Denish (Das) came up with great knocks and I think he has a good prospect to become a very good player. But we always miss Riyan. We want him to be with us, but he is in the national set-up now. Actually, it's very good that without Riyan they are coming up with good performances for Assam and they think that they can be the next big name, like Riyan," said Saikia.
On a personal front, though Saikia is elated to coach the senior side on the tour, he will be happy to nurture the U19 boys again, once he comes back home. "I went to Bangladesh with the U19 team last year. So now going with a senior team to a different country, it will be a great learning experience for me. I hope I can learn many good things from this tour which I can apply with the youngsters and help them get to the next level," Saikia signed off with a promise to impart that knowledge to the age-group cricketers.
The schedule: Jun 21: 1st one-day match; Jun 23: 2nd one-day; Jun 25: 3rd one-day; Jun 27: 4th one-day; Jun 29: 5th one-day (all matches in Windhoek)
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