"WHAT CRICKET HAS TAUGHT US IS THAT WE HAVE TO PERSEVERE"

Former Indian cricketer-turned-coach-turned-commentator Sanjay Bangar has launched Cricuru, an online cricket coaching platform to tap into the huge demand for quality coaching. BW Businessworld's Rohit Chintapali caught up with Bangar to know about his entrepreneurial vision, the business of cricket and more. Edited excerpts of the chat:

-  Rohit Chintapali

Sanjay, what got you started with this venture? Could you tell us about the backstory?

My dear friend Virender Sehwag and I used to open for India together. Over the years, we've continued to cherish our friendship. He had come over for dinner after my India stint to enquire about what was going on in my mind. And I said that I feel there is going to be a need for a coaching app in India. While BCCI is doing some amazing work by educating players and coaches through the National Cricket Academy (NCA), they have their limitations because every state association can only nominate two or three candidates to undergo these courses. Hence, the output of qualified coaches is pretty limited. If you compare the player-to-qualified coach ratio- it's pretty high.

Viru also said that he had exactly those things in mind in 2003-04, when he was still playing and at the peak of his powers. Aspiring and professional cricketers alike, all wanted to approach him to learn his mindset towards the game. While he wanted to share, it was practically impossible for him to interact with everybody interested. Although he had invested in a tech company, the technology hadn't really developed yet, back then.

But now, the technology is available and we have some like-minded people who are willing to support us and our vision to help cricketers and coaches in every nook and corner of India through the app. So, we thought, why not do it?

Is it a good time to be an entrepreneur and a sportsperson in India?