BENGALURU: Away from the chaos and hustle of Bengaluru city, spread across 40 acres of land in the quiet neighbourhood of Bande Kodigehalli, Singahalli, stands the BCCI’s long-time dream that has finally come true - a state-of-art National Cricket Academy (NCA). The Board’s Centre of Excellence inaugurated on Saturday.
The CoE, which was unveiled to the office bearers and other stakeholders by BCCI president Roger Binny and secretary Jay Shah, is expected to be fully operational from early 2025.
The operations of the NCA, which currently functions out of the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, will be moved there in a phased manner. The facility, featuring as many as three grounds, has 86 pitches, an indoor training facility, a sports science and medicine block, gymnasium, pool and dormitories capable of housing 24 men and eight women’s players at a time.
The main ground, which has floodlights and broadcasting facilities, has 13 red soil surfaces and can host first-class and A-tour games. Ground B and C features 11 Mandya and nine black soil surfaces and are expected to be used for practice and match simulation purposes.
Perhaps, the biggest point of all is the 45 outdoor practice pitches, 20 of them with lights. NCA chief VVS Laxman, while speaking to journalists, said that he has never seen this kind of a facility elsewhere.
“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,” he said.
The former India cricketer said the different kinds of pitches and soil that are used will allow players to adapt and prepare for all conditions.
“Adaptability is nothing but creating situations which a player gets to confront during matches. You can create by having a lot of match simulation or playing a lot of matches. You create different scenarios where the player is put into that position or that situation which he is going to confront," Laxman said.
"As far as the pitches are concerned… I think with the three different soils, you can make different kind of pitches for them. I think the pitches here will allow them to improve their adaptability. And the three beautiful grounds will allow them to face any situation with a lot of confidence,” he added.
One of the key aspects of the NCA has been the development of the age-group cricketers across men and women. The men won the 2022 U19 World Cup while the women won the inaugural edition last year.
For both the events, they have planned through the year, with multiple zonal and skill-based camps and it has helped India maintain their player pool. Laxman believes that the fully-functioning CoE would only add to the existing programmes.
“Right from the age-group level, players are selected by national selectors. During the off-season, April-September, we have various programmes. We conduct close to 32 camps during this period but it happens in different parts of the country. With the KSCA, we get the Alur ground for some of these camps. Whereas, with the three grounds here, I think we can have a lot more programmes,” he said.
For years, the BCCI had wanted to create such a facility and the dream has finally come true. Minutes away from the Bengaluru airport, the CoE has everything one could ask for where players go not just for rehab, but also to upskill and prepare for upcoming challenges.