“For me the line where you judge how it is doing is by looking at the number of players coming in,” National Cricket Academy (NCA) chairman Ravi Shastri said on Tuesday.
“For me the line where you judge how it is doing is by looking at the number of players coming in,” National Cricket Academy (NCA) chairman Ravi Shastri said on Tuesday.
“All the current players, as and when they are free or need help, come to the NCA. Munaf Patel has flown in from Colombo. They come here because they know they will get the right kind of attention,” Shastri told DNA.
The NCA chairman spent a good part of Tuesday closeted with director Dav Whatmore and administrative manager Col KR Nair chalking plans and reviewing work-in-progress. He also did a quick status check on the facilities at the NCA. “I am extremely happy with the progress we have made. It was very important to get a structure in place and make it a lot more professional and a lot more corporatised with professionals running the show. That has happened.”
According to Shastri what has been most heartening to see is that a lot more players are making the NCA a one-stop shop. “Even someone like a Sachin Tendulkar came here for a week. Yuvraj Singh has been here, and S Sreesanth has also been at the NCA. Now, we have Virat Kohli, Munaf and VRV Singh, while RP Singh was here,” Shastri said.
He was confident that more and more cricketers will be open to coming to the academy. “If I am currently playing for India and I am going through a bad patch or if I am injured then I will request the BCCI to allow me to come to the academy and hone my skills again,” Shastri said.
At present the staff at the NCA are handling two sensitive cases. One of Gujarat off-spinner Mohnish Parmar, under scrutiny for a suspect action and Munaf Patel, the medium-pacer whose fitness levels have come under question on more than one occasion. “Both Munaf and Mohnish will get the right guidance at the NCA. It is our job to provide them with the best facilities and environment to make them better players.”
Talking about the blueprint of the academy Shastri said, “We want to be original. Yes, if there are good qualities to be imbibed from England, Australia, South Africa or Sri Lanka we will take it, but we want to be rated as one of the best in the world. More than anything else the NCA will have an individual streak of its own. I am an ambitious guy and I want this to be one of the best facilities going around in world cricket. It will take some time but I think we are well on our way.”
Talking about Whatmore and his team, Shastri said, “There is no substitute for experience. When someone has been around for so long and understands sub-continental culture and has got a track record which is so impressive, obviously it is a big bonus. What I like about this team is that they are passionate about what they do. Dav (Whatmore) is not here to fill in the numbers. He will echo the same views I have with regard to taking the NCA to the next level. We don’t want to stand on top of a roof and go on tom-toming that we did this and we did that,” Shastri said. “You can ask the players who come here and they will testify.”
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