Mendis, the former Sri Lankan captain, manager and chairman of the selection committee, will head the academy in the capacity of its director-cum-ambassador. Kaluperuma will be his deputy. The academy will go in for selection of students from the Capital from the age of seven and put them in academies that are already in existence.

Speaking to newspersons at a function to launch the academy, Mendis lauded ``the idea which is to get a base to train.'' He said the academy was looking at 400 students playing in various centres in a year's time. ``I am happy to contribute and share myexperiences with the youngsters here. What we are looking for is youngsters with good basics and put them in various academies that are already functioning in the Capital,'' Mendis said.