After sixteen years of planning and delay, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has finally inaugurated its state-of-the-art National Cricket Academy branded as the ‘Centre of Excellence’ on the outskirts of Bengaluru. The facility, which aims to become operational by early 2025, was unveiled by BCCI president Roger Binny and secretary Jay Shah.
Spread over 40 acres, this will be the nerve centre of Indian cricket. It will be at one place the premier centre for training, rehabilitation, sports science, and injury management. The operations from M. Chinnaswamy Stadium will shift gradually to the new place. Three ICC-standard cricket grounds will host first-class matches. The indoor facility will have surfaces imported from the UK and Australia and a comprehensive outdoor nets area with 45 pitches.
One of the most striking features of the new NCA is its Sports Science and Medicine Block, the facility dedicated to athlete rehabilitation and injury management. Modern campus facilities include floodlights, a sub-air drainage system, broadcast facilities, and pools and athletics tracks, so all these recovery amenities will be available to athletes from other sports disciplines besides cricket support.
VVS Laxman, the head of the NCA, hopes that the main venue will host ‘A’ tour games soon. He stressed here that the place will not only work on rehabilitating but also on developing the skills as well as conditioning of the players. Laxman feels that the new Centre of Excellence will help future generations of cricketers after they have become accustomed to many playing conditions from using various soil types.
“I think the beneficiaries will be not only the future generation of cricketers but also the current generation of cricketers,” Laxman said during a media interaction on Saturday. ” Since the time I joined the NCA in December 2021, all the cricketers, they come here, not only for rehab. Obviously, there is a misconception that the cricketers come only for rehab. But they come to the NCA to upskill, get ready for the challenges during the various series they are going to participate in.
“I am sure that all the players who come to this facility, all the players who will be part of this programme will strive to achieve excellence, will strive to become the best they can. And in the process, the Indian cricket team in all the formats will probably be the best in the world.”
The target for completion was 15 months [when the foundation stone was laid in February 2022], ” Laxman said. “I have been to some of the best academies in the world, not only limited to cricket, but other sports also. But I have not seen this kind of a facility.”
Though the construction has been delayed by legal cases and the impression of the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in early 2022, the NCA is on track now. With future expansions, NCA aims to be a more frequent training host for the youth categories: under-15 girls and under-16 boys build their skills for international competition.
“The programmes we run, because the way the programmes run, all the best performers right from your under-15 for women and under-16 for boys are selected by the national selectors and from April, during the off-season, until September, we have various programmes,” he said.
“We conducted close to 32 camps during this period for both boys and girls, but usually these happen in different parts of the country. And with the KSCA, we get the ground to have some of these camps. Whereas here with three grounds, I think we can have a lot more programmes. Also these grounds can be used to have some India A series, which can be played on these surfaces here.
“The most important thing is, there are three different kinds of soils. What we want is the players to know how to adapt to different conditions. So in one place, instead of them travelling from one city to other city, they can have the experience and exposure of playing in different soils and different kinds of pitches, you know, which will enhance their performance.”
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