Ola ties up with cricket academies to offer scholarships to driver partners’ children

Children will be selected and given an opportunity to test and hone their skills under the guidance of professional cricket coaches.

These scholarships will help in unearthing new talent and give young kids a platform to kick-start their budding cricketing careers.

This initiative is a part of the ‘Ola Partners League’ (OPL) - a unique virtual cricket game for driver partners that was launched on 24th April 2017 and has seen an encouraging response from driver partners across 7 cities.

Trials to select the deserving children will be held at their academies and the participating children will be put through a selection process that will keenly evaluate their batting, bowling, and fielding abilities. The selected children will undergo training by professional coaches which include former Ranji and National players, who will guide them on enhancing their game along with providing requisite advice on physical fitness, sportsman spirit, and handling game pressure among others. All selected children will be given complete cricket kits, OPL jerseys as well as many other goodies.

Vishal Kaul, COO at Ola, said, “Cricket is more than just a game in India and there are millions who wish to make it to the big league. There is immense talent across the country and we want to play a role in encouraging the “cricket champions of tomorrow”. While Ola Partners League (OPL) is being played virtually by lakhs of our driver partners, we also wanted to engage with their families. Scholarships at cricket academies are an excellent opportunity for the children of our driver partners to transform their cricketing dreams into a reality. The initial response around OPL across the 7 cities has been very encouraging and we are expecting a similar response through this initiative as well. There is great anticipation across the organisation to see who these deserving kids will be and Ola is proud to play a significant role in creating such opportunities through OPL.”

Running successfully for the past 2 weeks, OPL has popular Indian all-rounder cricketer, Irfan Pathan and famous TV personality Mandira Bedi as its ambassadors. 
Irfan Pathan, Indian Cricketer and Brand Ambassador of OPL said, “I am thrilled to be a part of Ola Partners League, a novel initiative undertaken by our home grown company - Ola. While OPL focuses on rewarding driver partners by allotting runs for rides they complete and tasks they fulfil through its digital platform, it is heartening to see that Ola is also supporting their children by offering scholarships across India through OPL. I personally believe that (Cricket Academy of Pathans) CAP is a ground to unearth the next-gen of talented cricketers and this initiative of Ola is indeed a remarkable step in that direction.”

Mandira Bedi, TV personality and Brand Ambassador of OPL said, “It is very heartening to see companies like Ola coming to the forefront by creating engaging properties like OPL for their driver partners. Like the game of cricket brings the entire country together, I am confident that OPL will have many takers and will bring together the driver partner community to play together while representing their cities. I also applaud the initiative to identify bright young kids and give them access to cricket training at some of the best academies in the country.”