User:Dhanya.chandrasekhar/sandbox

P. Balachandran born (08 June 1954) was a dashing left handed batsman who played cricket and represented Kerala, in Ranji trophy from 1978 to 1983, he was awarded The Best Coach of Kerala award of the year 2014 from the Kerala Cricket Association.

He has represented South Zone in Duleep Trophy in 1981 and has also captained Kerala in Ramachandra Rao and CK Naidu Tournaments. He also played for Tripunithura Cricket Club, BPCL Kochi Refinery (both Kerala based), Alwarpet cricket club, Southern Railway, Indian Bank and Lakshmi Machine Works ( All Tamil Nadu Based) are the during his playing days in a long Cricket Career Spanning over 3 decades.

He is a qualified Cricket Coach with certification from National Institute of Sports (NIS – Patiala) and NCA (National Cricket Academy, BCCI). Since 1986 he has been very active in Coaching and has been the Head Coach of Various Kerala teams for 16 successful years, was the Head Coach of the Kerala Ranji Trophy team (the last being 2016) for 6 seasons and have coached the South Zone teams.

He has coached around 15000 boys and girls in his 34 year long coaching career and many of them have played at the highest level such as Tinu Yohannan, S Sreesanth, S Laxman (Who played for UAE in International matches) and many Ranji Trophy players who represented Kerala

BCCI has utilized his experience in the form of Match referee and Talent Resource Development Officer (TRDO)

Kerala Cricket Association as well as many other Institutions and Organizations have honored him with the award to recognize his contributions to the game.

Overseas Malayalee Associations of different foreign countries also have presented Life time Achievement Awards to him.

He is a renowned columnist in Print Media and expert Analyst in Visual Media. He is also a well-known Cricket-Football Commentator in visual media. He is the Author of the only Malayalam Cricket Coaching Manual. Handles a regular Column on Cricket Coaching in Mathrubhumi Sports Magazine for the past 8 years without break.

Recognition

-         Won The Best Coach of Kerala award of the year 2014 from the Kerala Cricket Association.

-         Has won many awards from various organizations including from Ernakulam District Cricket Association for his outstanding contributions to Cricket.

-         A special honour was awarded by Rotary Club Internationals for completing 25 fruitful years in Coaching.

-         Kerala trainees fraternity of Balachandran and Tripunithura Municipality also honoured him at the completion of 25 years in coaching.

-         Honoured by the Dubai Malayalee fraternity by way of a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.

-         Honoured by the Bahrain Malayalee fraternity by way of a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.