BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has said that India chief coach Ravi Shastri will be asked to get more involved in grooming talent at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) till the time he is with the senior side.
Ganguly’s plan to have Shastri in multiple roles could well be to create a synergy between the national team and NCA.
After India’s World Cup 2019 campaign, Shastri was re-appointed as head coach for the next two years.
“We will also create a system where Ravi’s involvement is more at the NCA till the time he’s coach. We will make it a good Centre of Excellence. We have Rahul Dravid, Paras (Mhambrey) and Bharat Arun also goes there,” Ganguly quoted as saying by PTI.
On Wednesday (October 30), the new BCCI boss met National Cricket Academy chief Rahul Dravid at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru and held crucial discussions to revive the infrastructure of NCA.
Asked about his meeting with Dravid, Ganguly said: ”It was good. He’s the head of NCA and one of the greats of Indian cricket. Basically, we wanted to know about the functions of NCA. We are building a new NCA.
“The meeting went for about two hours. I met him separately and found out what is the way forward. I think they do a lot of good work.”
In the company of NCA officials, Ganguly also visited the proposed land for building a new NCA facility in Bangalore. The BCCI has got an extra 15 acres of land from the Karnataka government for establishing the Centre of Excellence near the international airport.
The cricket governing body had secured the 25-acre deal with the state government in May this year. The overall area of the facility is now 40 acres.
“A lot of work goes in the NCA. It is right in the heart of the city in Bangalore and we won’t get a location like this. I think KSCA does help a lot and don’t even charge a penny from BCCI for using those facilities.
“They’ve done a lot of good work with the junior and senior teams. The bigger the space, it will be better. Once that’s complete, NCA will get a lot more bigger,” Ganguly said.
(With PTI inputs)
