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Young cricketers from Bahrain are touring India hoping to impress this week in the Pepsi Cricket Cup organised by KRC Cricket Club in India.
The contest concludes at the weekend after a gruelling seven-day test of their talents in Karnataka.
Led by schoolboy captain Akshay Bharadwaj, 12, Bahrain RFC Under-13 are competing against eight other teams from Dubai, Delhi and Karnataka.
Selected and trained by coach Rajesh Machado of the Bahrain Rugby Club, the team of mostly Indian and Sri Lankan expats aged from nine, is pinning its hopes on the players' batting, bowling and fielding skills.
Coach Machado said: "Dubai is a tough team and players from Madan Lal Cricket Academy, Delhi, are also very good. We are confident of giving them a tough fight ... I have eight all-rounders, three excellent batsmen, four fast bowlers and two spinners.
"They are fielding like tigers and are very fit. If we field well, we can win matches. As long as they are fit they can also bat and bowl well."
The 30-overs contest involves eight league matches with the top four teams qualifying for the semi-finals, which will be played tomorrow, followed by the final on Friday.
Ace batsman Akshay said that he hopes to top his best score of 41 runs and come home victorious. He said: "I hope to lead the side well and get players to be disciplined and focused ... concentrating on the game, dealing with everything calmly without being too tense."
Passionate about the game and itching to play is Bharath Srinivasan, 10, another one of the team's star performers. He said: "I enjoy the game. It's not only for myself ... it is for the team. I really do enjoy playing cricket. I don't have a reason but it's just an awesome feeling."
Richard Mathias, the rugby club's director of cricket affairs, said that cricket coaching for children started around seven years ago. They now boast under-13, under-15 and under-17 teams.
Recently the under-15 team was ranked number two in Asia and under-17 fourth. A former professional football player, Mathias said: "This is a development tournament that is taking place on a grass pitch between Mangalore and Udipi. It is away from the city and our children will get to interact with many others from different backgrounds and talents.
"While they will learn to be on their own away from parents, they will also, through the game of cricket, learn the fundamentals of team work and togetherness, which are the building blocks of life."
Team - Akshay Bharadwaj, 12yrs (captain, Class 8), Zubin Aboobaker, 13 (both Indian School, Class 9); Bharath Srinivasan, 10 (International School of Choueifat, Class 5); Kevin, 13 (Year 8), Varun N Anand, 9 (both British School of Bahrain, Year 4); Vaibhav Chandrasekhar, 11 (Bahrain School, Grade 7); Shohan Sanjay Fernando, 10 (Class 6); Jolveen Mendonca, 11 (Class 5); Shirish Shetty, 13 (Class 7); Rahul Ramachandra, 9 (all New Indian School, Class 4); Abhishek Mitra, 13 (Class 7); Saikalyan Madduri, 9 (both New Millennium School-DPS, Class 5); and Venkat Sainarayan, 13 (Asian School, Class 8).
