On Thursday, the newly appointed BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has expressed that the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli is very passionate about the National Cricket Academy (NCA) which is set to be transformed into a Centre of Excellence.
Ganguly said, “Kohli is also very passionate about the NCA. We will try our best to transform it.” He also said that a system will be created where head coach Ravi Shastri gets to spend more time at the NCA. The BCCI will soon be transforming the NCA in Bengaluru into a state-of-the-art facility on the lines of Cricket Australia’s High-Performance Centre in Brisbane.
On Wednesday, Ganguly and other newly-elected office-bearers of the BCCI met the NCA members, including Head of Cricket Rahul Dravid, to discuss the matter. The BCCI president, Ganguly, along with the NCA officials, also visited the proposed land for building a new NCA facility near Bengaluru.
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Ganguly said, “We will create a system where Ravi’s involvement is more in the NCA till the time he is the coach. Rahul (Dravid) is there, Paras Mhambrey (India U-19 and A team coach) is there. Bharat Arun (India bowling coach) goes to the NCA. We will try and make it a good center of excellence. NCA actually does a lot of work… When you go there, you realize the hard work they put in. Basically I wanted to know about the functions of NCA. I met him separately and wanted to find out what is the way forward. I think they do a lot of good work at the NCA.”
The former India skipper further said, “A lot of work goes around in the NCA. It is right in the heart of the city. The Karnataka State Cricket Association does help a lot. They don’t even charge a penny from the BCCI for using the facilities. They have done a lot of good work at the NCA and it shows in the performance of the junior and senior teams. Hopefully, the NCA will get a lot bigger.”
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The proposed NCA project should be adequate to accommodate three grounds, indoor nets, administrative buildings, and a residential complex. The allotted land is believed to be on a 99-year lease.
