In what can be called a coup, reports suggest that the BCCI has succeeded in roping in famed Australian fast bowling coach Troy Cooley to join the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru as the fast bowling coach.
Cooley is considered to be one of the best fast bowling coaches in world cricket, with his crowning glory being aiding England in winning the 2005 Ashes series at home, where the home team's fast bowlers became a nightmare for the Aussie batters.
The success of Andrew Flintoff, Matthew Hoggard, Simon Jones, and Steve Harmison during the epic series was attributed to the presence of Cooley. Cooley was then roped in by Australia very next year and he worked till 2010-11 season after which he joined Cricket Australia's Centre of Excellence in Brisbane.
"I would say one of the biggest success for both Sourav (Ganguly) and Jay (Shah) is to convince Troy Cooley to work with India's next batch of pacers at the National Cricket Academy (NCA). We are hearing that BCCI is giving Cooley a three-year contract and he will closely co-ordinate with head of Cricket VVS Laxman," a senior BCCI official privy to the development told PTI.
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Meanwhile, it was also revealed that former India players Hrishikesh Kanitkar and SS Das have been appointed as batting coaches along with Saurashtra stalwart Sitanshu Kotak.
Former Mumbai leg-spinner Sairaj Bahutule will be the spin bowling coach while the three fielding coaches employed by the BCCI for NCA specific roles are Subhadeep Ghosh, T Diliep, and Munish Bali.
The BCCI will also introduce an 'Exclusive Young Pacers Contract', in effort to prepare the next crop of fast bowlers.
It is understood that Ganguly, Shah along with head coach Dravid and NCA head Laxman is trying to devise a contract that is exclusive and different from the central contract. Cooley and Laxman will hand-pick 10 young fast bowlers, who are currently not in the national reckoning or do not have central contracts.
These young pacers will be chosen from junior and FC cricket and then will be evaluated by Dravid and Laxman on readiness to be fast-tracked into the India A or senior teams.
(PTI report)
