He is a former international cricketer, a golf player, and a commentator. She is an award-winning educationist whose work in the field is commendable. Together, the husband-wife duo Ajit and Fatima Agarkar have merged the world of sports and education to start Agarkar Centre of Excellence ACE, a foundation that focuses on integrating the two.

They have partnered with Divesh Bathija-s UnMath School to teach mathematics beyond textbooks. Think virtual conversations, cricket videos, case studies and discussions with cricket fans. "We have been working on this for a while now, and started to test it out since April with complimentary sessions. With the lockdown, schooling has taken up most of the students- time, but these sessions have been a welcome change because the methodology is unusual. "Students are often subject to math problems through imaginary names and situations — like Jerry had 100 pens or Train A was moving at so-and-so speed but here, they get to link the problem to an actual cricket situation and learn to solve it quickly," explains Fatima. Joining us on the call, Ajit adds, "The idea is to enjoy the subject, and make it more play than study. I-ve struggled with it, so has my son but we found that you understand the concepts better when they are associated with real-life situations. And what better than cricket — from run rates to bowling speed to degree of spin to batting average and scores, the sport is all about numbers and so associating it with mathematics will make it interesting for students to learn and understand the subject better."