'Everything we plan and do here at NCA is player-centric': Laxman
For the first time since taking over as National Cricket Academy chief in December 2021, VVS Laxman addressed the media at the Centre of Excellence that was inaugurated in Bengaluru last weekend.
From balancing rehab and upskilling to having camps throughout the year to coaching methods to creating bench strength, the former India cricketer throws light on how the Indian cricket machinery operates behind the scenes. Excerpts.
On a day at his job
When I took up this role, I was very reluctant to take it on. Once I embraced this position and role, it's been such a satisfying and fulfilling experience. You are not only dealing with the established international stars, but also creating the bench strength. That has been very, very fulfilling, you know, to see the amount of talent and the amount of potential at our disposal. I can say with a lot of confidence that in the next 10 years, we'll have many players who will make our country proud. I'm not only talking about men. I'm also talking about women. We're blessed to have that kind of talent. The whole idea is to monitor them and groom them so that they realise their potential. And for that, I think, I've got a wonderful team. Head of education Sujith Somasunder, Head of sports science Nitin Patel.
And then I've got unbelievably experienced coaches. We got two spin bowling coaches -- Sairaj Bahutule, Rajib Dutta; three batting coaches -- Apurva Desai, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Shitanshu Kotak; one fast bowling coach -- Troy Cooley; and two fielding coaches -- Munish Bali and Subhadeep Ghosh. All these coaches and heads of departments play a very important role in fulfilling the expectations I have from what we do at the National Cricket Academy. Typically, we discuss, plan, brainstorm, and come up with the programmes that are necessary so that the young, deserving players get an opportunity and exposure to develop as cricketers, you know.
And then there are various coaches who go out and execute that. Not only the coaches who are on a full-time basis with NCA, we have coaches across the country who come, and we have the Zonal Cricket Camps; there are other coaches who are part of the ecosystem who come and take the camps. Whoever performs well after every ZCA camp, we have a tournament, and the best performers from that tournament, from the ZCA tournament, are selected for the NCA camp, which is the High Performance Camp. The NCA camp is conducted by the coaches at NCA. So, I think it's a non-stop grind and it's quite satisfying and quite fulfilling. I think everyone should align on one common objective, one common goal of how to take Indian cricket forward. I think it's been going on in a really progressive manner.
On balancing rehab and upskilling
I think a player getting injured is part and parcel of any athlete's career. That's why recovery, foccusing on fitness standards, and maintaining those standards are very, very critical. In fact, what we've done over the last two years is standardise fitness standards and levels from the top to the bottom. It's not only the Indian cricket team but also the state teams that follow the various protocols we and the national players adhere to.
As far as skill is concerned, everyone may be different, but fitness standards can be maintained. So, I think both are very important because you're required to upskill. We all know that when you're competing against the best, you need to get better every day as a cricketer. Only when you upskill yourself, knowing what areas to work on, can you progress. Anyone who stagnates, with the amount of data and analytics we have at our disposal, can easily be found out. If a player's fitness standards improve day by day, I believe—and we all believe—that his performance will automatically be enhanced. So, both are very, very critical.
On ensuring athletes stay as the focus
I think even the methodology of coaching has changed. For any player, it's about the options we provide. It's not that we dictate to them that they must do this or make changes. No, it's the options, and ultimately the player should feel comfortable acknowledging and accepting that option.
If they feel it's working, they'll embrace it and continue to use it throughout the season. The whole objective is to give that exposure to the player. Another thing we've done is monitoring the players, both men and women. The biggest focus here is the player. Everything is player-centric, and we want the player to benefit. We don't want them to feel confused or burdened by whose advice to follow. So, everything is inclusive, and we take the state association coaches into confidence.
When Rahul was the head coach of the Indian team, he took care of the contracted players, and we at NCA took care of the targeted players. Then we had the emerging players and the under-19 players. They attended camps, and once they returned to their respective state associations, we monitored them. Each coach would monitor at least ten players. For example, a spin bowling coach like Sairaj would have ten spinners under him and monitor their progress.
We know the areas they need to work on. Throughout the year, we ensure that the player is working on these areas. To answer your question, we collaborate with the state coaches, most of whom are part of our ecosystem through the summer programmes. It's always a very open and inclusive way of working. It's not that we're giving different instructions and the player finds it completely different when they return to their state association. The information is passed on, and the communication channel is very transparent and open.
We also have something known as the Athlete Management System (AMS), where all the players who attend the ZCA or NCA camps have a profile created for them. This includes everything from skill reports to fitness and musculoskeletal screening reports. We even have mental conditioners who work with them. Every report on that player is stored in the AMS. We're now requesting the state associations to follow the same process. At least 50 players from each state association—25 men and 25 women—should also be on the AMS.
We've put in a lot of work to make the AMS quite proactive. The idea is that if a player comes to the NCA or is part of any ZCA camp, their file should still be there 5 or 10 years from now. We'll also know how the player has progressed, making it easy for anyone managing that player to understand their journey year by year. I think these are the inclusive programmes we want to implement.
On handling of injured players
I can't comment on what has happened in the past, but I can say with a lot of conviction that I am very, very proud of everyone, every member of my team and also the Sports Science and Medicine (SSM) team because it is a high-pressure work for them because they are dealing with injuries and there is a misconception that the timelines have to be met. I think having patience and following the protocols is very, very critical.
Full credit to the entire SSM team for the way they have patiently handled each and every player, and also credit to the players. We've seen Rishabh Pant's case, we've seen Jasprit being here, Shreyas Iyer being here, KL Rahul being here, Prasidh being here—lots of players. I can't single out one or two, but whoever came here, they have really worked hard.
The challenging part of rehab is that it probably only lasts for two or three hours a day, and then they have the rest of the day with nothing to do. Here we are talking about elite sportspersons who are actually busy playing six to eight hours or practicing six to eight hours and suddenly they realise that they are confined to the rehab room or the gym, and once they recover and they progress to the ground, but it's a maximum of four to five hours, but they are required to still be mentally strong and not get frustrated.
They have conversations at various stages of their rehab because every day you want to be out there in the middle playing as much as possible, but sometimes you have to accept the fact that you're required to recover properly before actively participating again at whatever level you're playing. So, I think it's very important that the player understands that.
You know, if someone is there for rehab, there will be one or two conversations with them, and I joke with my SSM team that they are also good mental conditioners or counsellors, because there will be days and moments when the player feels a little down or frustrated. But you have those conversations and sort of convince the player that whatever is happening is in their best interest. So it's important for them to be patient, and credit to the players that they have shown a lot of patience, and the reward is there for everyone to see.
On camps before Women's T20WC
I think it was obviously a good discussion between Amol Muzumdar and myself. It was a very productive camp, and Amol had planned in such a manner that there was the first phase of the camp where he focused on the mental aspect of the game and the physical aspect of the game. And then there was a break, and then they came back, and they focused on the skill and the tactical aspect of the game. It was not only restricted to nets, but they also played five matches where Amol created different situations, different kinds of challenges for the players. So the way it works is again a very collaborative effort between me or NCA and the head coach of both men and women, and I think luckily we all played together.
So it's ultimately a nice conversation, a nice discussion, and one of the aspects here is that the BCCI facilitates by giving whatever the head coaches of both men and women teams want, preparing for any series. I remember Rahul had a very good camp before they went to the Asia Cup last year in Alur. Now Amol had almost twice, two camps, one in Mumbai and one before going to the World Cup. So I think one thing people don't understand is that BCCI is spending a lot of money. I don't want to tell the kind of money which we spend throughout the year but it's a significant amount. And that's why I think our cricket is very healthy because the BCCI is investing in developing the bench strength, not only of cricketers but the entire support system, which will take Indian cricket forward.