G Force Cricket Academy thrilled at chance to play Bermuda
Gopal Jasapara, the founder of the United Arab Emirates-based G Force Cricket Academy, is excited to be playing against a Bermuda XI in India.
G Force will clash with members of Bermuda’s cricket team in two 50-over matches tomorrow and Thursday, with Bermuda using the two fixtures to prepare for the ICC World Challenge League play-off, which takes place from February 22 to March 3 in Malaysia.
The side from the United Arab Emirates have played at Sanjay Farm before and are expecting a lot of support from the locals.
“G Force Cricket Academy is going to India once again to play some quality cricket at Sanjay Farm,’’ Jasapara said.
“They've got beautiful two cricket fields and we’re going to play against the national side of Bermuda. We’re fortunate to get an invitation to bring our team there to play against Bermuda. It’s been a long time now since we played such a quality game against such a good team.
“We’re playing against the mighty side of Bermuda. They’re preparing for the ICC Division Two and if they play well they can qualify for Division One, where you can see the bigger teams are playing.
“It’s a great opportunity for us and definitely they’ll be a lot of people to watch that game. They’ll be definitely cheering for G Force because we have been there, for us it’s like home.”
Jasapara vividly remembers the 2007 Cricket World Cup clash between Bermuda and India, made famous by the Dwayne Leverock slip catch off the bowling of Malachi Jones and his G Force side has a number of Indian players.
“If you remember Bermuda played at the 2007 World Cup in West Indies,’’ he added.
“Being Indian I don't like to remember that World Cup because we lost to Sri Lanka and we didn't qualify for the next level. We scored a lot of runs against Bermuda, but if you remember the catch the slip man took that went viral. So, we’re playing against them and we’re looking forward to it.”
“We’ll have some boys from India, some are coming from Dubai. Some of the boys have arrived in Dubai from UK and they’ll also joining us for these games.”
On Monday, a Bermuda XI lost by five wickets to Param Veer and coach Cal Waldron has been pleased with the response of his players, who put in a lot of energy in the training session on Tuesday.
“The players are definitely looking forward to bat as individuals and putting together a good team total in 50 overs,’’ Waldron told The Royal Gazette.
“The response from the players after the defeat was positive. In our training session on Tuesday, we did work on the technical aspects that should help them in the two matches against G Force Academy.
“We only have the two matches against G Force remaining. We then focus on more technical work before we leave India on February 18, and arrive in Malaysia on February 19.
“We have some good pitches in India. They have allowed for some great bowling variations between seam and spin.”
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