Vision Statement for Indian Cricket

At present, the BCCI runs a coaching academy on an ad hoc basis. While it is based in Bangalore, it does not have facilities of its own, but uses those of the Sports Authority of India, and the Karnataka State Cricket Association, for its activities.

The BCCI will immediately acquire land of its own, with the help of the state government concerned, and erect a full-fledged Cricket Academy on that land. The academy will be complete with residential accommodation for a maximum of 60 inmates plus staff, practice facilities both outdoor and indoor, state of the art coaching and physical training equipment, and a well equipped in house medical centre, to deal with any and all sports-related injuries.

The board will hire a professional, qualified person to head the academy. The board will further place, on its payroll, past cricketers of merits to serve as specialised coaches in the fields of batting, bowling both pace and spin, fielding, and all other aspects relating to player development. Further, the board will enter into a bilateral agreement with similar boards in the advanced countries, whereby our players will be enabled to regularly travel to coaching centres abroad to add new dimensions to their skills.

The coaches comprising the staff of the academy will, in turn, be mandatorily required to visit academies abroad, to update their own knowledge of current skills and techniques.

The central academy will be fed by regional academies. The structure will be as follows: Each state academy will maintain, with funding partly from its own coffers and partly from the BCCI's central treasury, a state cricket academy, where training will be imparted to promising players of the school, college and league levels.

Outstanding candidates belonging to the state academies will be passed on for advanced training to the zonal academies, of which there will be one per zone. The most promising of the zonal candidates will in turn work upwards to the national academy, which will serve as the feeding ground for India, India A, and India Age-Group level teams.

The coaches of the central academy will be responsible for identifying, recruiting, and interacting with coaches at the state and zonal level academies. Thus, the head coach of batting in the national academy will recruit batting coaches at the state and zonal levels. He will periodically interact with these coaches, passing on his own acquired skills and specialised knowledge. Together, the batting coaches of the state, zonal and central academies will formulate a common basic program for their wards, in order to ensure a certain level of continuity of thought as candidates are passed up the ladder.

While the inmates of the various academies will be picked strictly on merit, the coaches at the state level will also be expected to, in their turn, interact with coaches in the various schools and colleges in the region, to pass on to them the various updated coaching programs, and ensure that right from the grassroots up, a uniform level of coaching is followed.

Along with coaches, the national academy will put together a team of fitness experts, and physiotherapists, to maintain the team at peak fitness both in season and off. These experts will in turn recruit, and interact with, fitness experts and physiotherapists at the state levels.

Like the coaches, the fitness experts and physiotherapists will be required to travel abroad regularly to update themselves on the latest methods pertaining to their respective fields. They will in turn pass on this acquired knowledge to their juniors at the state levels.

The academy will also purchase, and maintain, the latest in videographic and biomechanic equipment, operated by trained professionals, for use in training. Similar equipment will be made available to the state associations as well.

In time, this infrastructure will be further extended, to ensure that coaching facilities blanket the country, and aspiring cricketers anywhere, at any level, have access to at least the basic coaching facilities they require to explore, and enhance, their competence.

Coaching, the board recognises, does not merely mean time spent in the nets. Every effort will be made to ensure, thus, that India's cricketers are well-rounded personalities. Thus, 'guest lecturers' comprising eminent men and women of stature and achievement from all walks of life will be invited to visit the academy at regular intervals and interact with the players, in order that through such interaction, cricketers add to their repertoire of specialised skills a broader knowledge base, and social skills.

Further, the board and the academy will ensure that the India A team, and the Age Group teams, spend at least 6 to 7 months of the year in travelling abroad. Regular tours will be scheduled, enabling the hopefuls to experience at first hand, varying international conditions and stiff competition. The board will also interact with their peers elsewhere in the cricketing world, to ensure that their A teams and age group teams regularly tour India.

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