BENGALURU : A week after assuming office, new BCCI president Sourav Ganguly met National Cricket Academy (NCA) head Rahul Dravid and COO Tufan Ghosh here on Wednesday. A presentation was made by the NCA officials, detailing a picture to take the academy and Indian cricket forward.
The meeting, which lasted close to three hours, was attended by Ganguly, BCCI secretary Jay Shah, joint-secretary Jayesh George, treasurer Arun Singh Dhumal and vice-president Mahim Verma. They were given a detailed account of the facilities at the NCA premises and the programmes conducted there.
Creation of a state-of-the-art NCA was one of the talking points. The BCCI has bought around 40 acres in the outskirts of the city to relocate the NCA, but the land has been lying unused, even though registration and other formalities were completed in 2017. It was learnt that work will start next year. In January, the BCCI will invite tenders for the various contracts that will be handed out.
There are also complains that the NCA serves more as a rehab and recovery centre than a grooming centre. It has been learnt that Ganguly & Co are trying to address these things.“The BCCI officials along with Dravid want to take Indian cricket forward and build a world-class NCA. The presentation was very good and we will now involve all the stake-holders to get this project started. Currently, NCA is sharing space with the Karnataka State Cricket Association, which means there are limitations and restrictions. We want it to be a breeding ground of talent rather than just a rehab centre. That is Dravid’s plan as well,” said a source in the know.
It was learnt that Ganguly has also been impressed by the presentation regarding plans for the new NCA site. “The presentation is going to be placed before the BCCI’s Apex Council and ideas will be taken forward,” said another source.Ganguly and the other office-bearers skipped a trip to the land bought for NCA. “Visiting the site is not that important at this stage. What to build over there is more important, so we just wanted to collect ideas before finalising a master plan.” It is also learnt that Dravid’s presentation stressed on the importance of having a strong grassroots programme. He suggested ways to improve the coaching system. The BCCI will consider his proposals.
