Eeshna Dashottar, Pune
On September 29, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officially inaugurated the new National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The new space has been named the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE). With premium infrastructure and facilities, this new centre is expected to level up the training provided by BCCI.
The new centre, which was ideated by the BCCI Secretary Jay Shah, spreads over 40 acres of land and is located neat the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru. The BCCI Centre of Excellence consists of three massive grounds and 86 pitches which meet the global standards. This is expected to help in the provision of comprehensive training facilities for the players. Influenced by English country grounds, the 3 world-class grounds are made with white picket fencing and green seating mounds.
The 3 grounds are divided as grounds A, B and C. Ground A consists of 13 ready-to-use Mumbai red soil pitches and is surrounded by a boundary of 85 yards. With facilities such as advanced floodlighting and the latest broadcasting infrastructure, ground A is all set to host and telecast matches officially. Dedicated towards practice and training, grounds B and C have a 75-yard boundary. To ensure a fast recovery post-rainfall and minimum disruptions in training, these grounds are also equipped with a unique subsurface drainage system.
Along with these dedicated fields, other world-class facilities available at CoE include 45 outdoor net pitches, a fielding practice area, outdoor running tracks, an indoor practice facility, etc. Integrated cameras have been put in the centre that will help in technique and game analysis. The South Pavilion is a large structure that houses one of the largest dressing rooms inclusive of services like a jacuzzi, lounge, kit room, massage room, and restrooms. For more physical training facilities, the Sports Science & Medicine (SSM) Block includes 16,000 square-foot gym and four athletic tracks. Additionally, dedicated spaces like physiotherapy rehab gym, meeting rooms, commentator and match referee rooms, press conference area, VIP lounge, etc. have also been added to the newly inaugurated CoE.
Jay Shah shared his delight about the launch through his post on X (formerly Twitter) and stated that this initiative will contribute to helping the current and upcoming cricketers to enhance their skills, deliver high performance and work towards a bright future for the Indian cricket scene.