This is part three of the 4-part series that evaluates the lack of success that the BCCI is. Please do go through the first part and second part before proceeding with this one.
In the first part, I had given a brief of how rich The Board of Control for Cricket in India is. An estimated revenue of the board. An approximate estimate of how many players will be playing the game the whole of the country. How the board failed to produce multiple replacements for a single position in every format etc. In part two, I analysed the BCCI’s greed for money which appears to be unsatiated and also the lack of facilities for the spectators in almost all the cricket grounds. In this part, let me try to throw some light on the non-functioning of the so called National Cricket Academy and how BCCI’s greed for money has led to the Indian team being engaged throughout the year.
National Cricket Academy
The so called National Cricket Academy was established in the year 2000. If anyone thinks that this is a brainchild of the BCCI you will be mistaken. This academy was established at a time when Australian cricket was at its absolute best. They won anything and everything and in every country. It was at that point when the Australian Centre of Excellence came into the limelight.
It was found that most of the Australian players who were part of the world’s best team had at one point or the other been to the CoE. Suddenly, the Indian board wanted a cricket academy. They seemed to think that all that is required to form a world class team is to have an academy and that is the end of it. The Indian team will be world beaters after an academy is started. This surely must have been the thought process in the BCCI because what followed was comedy of errors.
CoE was never meant to be an academy for the upcoming cricketers. It was meant to be a finishing school for cricketers who were already part of the various state teams and who were on the verge of breaking into the Australian team.
After the NCA was instituted
The way the NCA was conceptualised was the biggest of all the comedy of errors. The board started 5 academies. One per zone. They called these the Regional Cricket Academy. On top of that, a National Cricket Academy was also instituted. The NCA was given so much publicity that it became a hot topic in news channels on the day of inauguration. The idea behind having regional academies was for these regional academies to train the players and to send their wards to the national cricket academy for conditioning. Till date, I cannot recall even a single player who can say that he benefitted because of NCA. Such is the condition of the NCA. It is not clear what happened to all the regional academies. Whether they are all closed or still functioning without being in the limelight is unknown.
Once instituted, the NCA never had dedicated coaches. It seemed that whoever was free at a certain point, were asked to coach at the NCA. The director of NCA too kept changing regularly. Brijesh Patel, Sunil Gavaskar, Anil Kumble etc. Absolutely no one has any idea what is happening at the NCA or what is the need for NCA. This is probably because the NCA hasn’t done anything worthwhile for it to be noticed and it has been 20 years since its inception. The Australian CoE at the sametime had produced multiple international stalwarts. The classic case of Wriddhiman Saha & Bhuvaneshwar Kumar comes to mind whose dialysis the NCA had completely messed with. It was because of mismanagement on the part of the NCA the careers of those players were set behind by a few years.
Lack of vision for the NCA
It looks like the board never had any vision for the NCA. All they did was copy the Australian CoE and hoped for the best. It will be better if the BCCI thinks of completely overhauling the NCA, appoint a few coaches of repute and instead of concentrating on the players who are on the verge of being selected to play for India, the NCA must concentrate on the promising youngsters who have a chance to play for India in 5-6 years.
The NCA must not only work on their cricketing skills but more importantly on fitness, diet & mental aspects. Players like Padikkal, Jaiswal, Nagarkoti, Mavi etc must have ideally underwent a stint for 3-4 years in the NCA. More importantly, the board must have a vision for the NCA. Hopefully, with Rahul Dravid at the helm, things will begin to improve and the NCA may start to contribute towards the betterment of the Indian team at all levels.
Mindless schedule
I have been saying this for many years and I will say this again. The Indian cricket team is playing way too many meaningless games throughout the year. This is purely because of the BCCI’s stupid schedule. It is hightime the board realises that they are dealing with humans and not with machines. Just a casual look at the number of games the Indian team has played over the last 4 years reveals that the team has played on a average 50 games every year.
This includes Tests, ODIs & T20s but this does not include IPL which is a further 14 games. These are only match days. Once the constant travel, hotel stay, practice games, the period between the games, IPL etc are taken into account, the number of days the Indian team is on the road will easily run over 200 days. This is a competitive sport and it is impossible to be competitive if the players are on the road for 200 days every year. None of the other teams plays this many number of games. Australians on an average plays 45 games a year which is also on the higher side but the general fitness levels of Australian sporting teams are way over any Indian sporting team any day.
Players unable to work on their weakness
It is precisely because of the high number of games, the players are not able to work on their weakness. The bowlers are not able to develop consistency in hitting a certain line and length. Neither are they able to learn to bowl in different conditions. The batsman are not able to eradicate a technical issue that has suddenly cropped up. The classic case of how Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma learned the game at the international level comes to mind. The Indian players are left to that. To learn the game at the highest level. This is because of the BCCI who do not give them a proper time off to work on the weakness.
Not only the number of games matter but the timing of these games also matters a lot. A couple of years ago, just before an important series in South Africa, the Indians were made to play 3 tests against a Sri Lankan side who were not even competitive. These games were played in India. Indian wickets which is completely different from the kind of surface that the team will eventually face in South Africa. This time could have been spent properly by playing a few meaningful first class games which would have prepared to team to face a South African team not high on confidence.
Missed opportunity
India missed a golden opportunity to win their first series in South Africa and to be the first Asian team to win in that country. Just because of that one nonsense series against Sri Lanka, the team did not have anytime to prepare for the tour and promptly went on to lose the series easily. The fact that the last test was won showed everyone what a bit of preparation would have ensured.
Take the current scenario. An important series is coming up in Australia. The Australians are extremely confident with a brilliant bowling attack and the batsmen having scored lot of runs last year. What did the board do? They have organised a full blown IPL and that too in Dubai. The conditions and pitches in Dubai are a far cry from what the team will encounter in Australia.
Nostalgia
Gone are the days when the Indian team actually had an offseason between March and August. It gave plenty of time for the players to spend some quality time with their family and friends and at the sametime work on their skill. With the increased contractual obligation with the broadcasters, the board need not provide such a lengthy offseason but atleast 3 months must be mandatory. It will reduce the number of games and it will also ensure that the players look forward to the season. For the spectators too, this will be better they too many games leads to boredom even for the spectators. Will they board wake up to this much needed necessity? Will the board understand that the success of the team is what will ensure continuous flow of funds for the board?