Kolkata: The mayor of Greater Manchester from the UK, Beverly Anne Craig, who was on a trade and investment-related visit to India, met RPSG group chairman Sanjiv Goenka on Thursday, and the two discussed his investment to build a centre of excellence for cricket in Manchester.On a 24-hour visit to Kolkata, Bev Craig met Goenka, who has bought Manchester Super Giants for £80m. “I arrived in Kolkata on Thursday. I met Sanjiv Goenka and his son, Shashwat. We discussed his investment in building a centre of excellence for cricket,” said Craig, who met nearly 40 businesspersons in Kolkata. Craig attended a CII roundtable, where industrialists and senior officials of companies were present.The RPSG group will build a centre of excellence and advanced training facilities for cricket in Manchester. A member in the UK team said a piece of land behind Emirates Old Trafford Cricket Ground was acquired earlier this year, paving the way for the redevelopment of “a state-of-the-art, high-performance cricket centre”. The club’s existing indoor centre will be upgraded, with indoor nets, a gym, outdoor training areas and sports science and medical facilities. Manchester Super Giants plays The Hundred, a professional cricket league organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board that uses the 100-ball format.Craig was part of a UK govt team, including seven mayors and three secretaries of state, visiting India for a week. The team met Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal. Accompanying Craig were officials of companies from Manchester interested in investing in India. She also interacted with Indian companies looking to invest in the UK. “She wants to take investment and jobs back home,” said a source.Craig succeeds Andy Burnham, now UK’s Prime Minister, as the mayor of Greater Manchester. On Friday afternoon, she dropped by at Eden Gardens, where she interacted with some woman cricketers. Sanjay Das, honorary treasurer of Cricket Association of Bengal, welcomed Craig to the stadium. A video on the history of Eden Gardens was played for her. She also went pandal-hopping as she visited Alipore Sarbojonin’s Durga Puja. “I am in the city at such a special time of the year. Trade cannot prosper without people knowing about each other and their culture,” she said.Asked about any plans on investment in the academic sector, she said: “We are looking for partnerships between universities.”
