Sixteen years after acquiring land from the Karnataka government to expand their cricketing infrastructure, the BCCI on Friday inaugurated its new state-of-the-art National Cricket Academy, which will be known as the ‘Centre of Excellence’, on the outskirts of Bengaluru.
The facility, housed in a 40-acre campus, comprises three grounds, built as per ICC’s regulations to host first-class cricket, an indoor facility comprising surfaces imported from the UK and Australia apart from local surfaces – both red and black soil – and a vast expansive outdoor nets area featuring 45 pitches. There is also a separate area designated to house BCCI’s Sports Science and Medicine Block and lodging facilities.
Grounds B and C will serve as dedicated practice grounds, comprising black soil surfaces brought in locally from southern Karnataka and Odisha. The facility also has an indoor and outdoor athletics track, apart from pool and recovery facilities, which will also be made available to athletes from other disciplines. Seven acres of land has been set aside for future expansion.
“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.”
For the longest time, the BCCI has envisioned a centre of excellence similar to ECB’s facility in Loughborough or Cricket Australia’s facility in Brisbane. The land on which it has been built had to pass several litigation hurdles, which at one point had the BCCI mulling over the possibility of moving it outside the city. The project finally received clearance in late 2020, with work starting in early 2022 after a forced delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“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.”
With the upscaling of the NCA, Laxman underlined a number of aspects of their functioning that could be enhanced once the facility is fully functional. “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.”
Shashank Kishore is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
