Munaf Patel raised questions on Central of Excellence. (Photo- PTI)
BCCI Center of Excellence: The National Cricket Academy (NCA) of Indian cricket, better known as the Center of Excellence, is located near Bengaluru. This center is the main hub for training, high performance camps, coaching courses, fitness assessment, rehabilitation and injury management. But former Indian fast bowler Munaf Patel has raised serious questions on the Center of Excellence. He said that NCA is no longer a center for the development of players, rather it looks like a hospital where one has to go only to recover from injuries.
Munaf Patel raised questions on Central of Excellence
Munaf Patel recently while talking in TOI Sports podcast made a big statement on the current system of NCA. He said that players are now afraid of going to NCA. No one wants to go there, but everyone remains silent for fear of jeopardizing their career. He believes that major changes are needed in the Center of Excellence. He said, ‘If you go inside and see, you will understand everything. I have been saying for a long time that there needs to be a 100 percent change in this.
According to Munaf, NCA was established around 2000-01 by adopting Australia’s Center of Excellence model. At that time, officers like Raj Singh Dungarpur had brought Australia’s coaching manual and implemented it in India. But in the last 25 years, Australia has updated its manual several times and India is still running on the same old system. There is talk of setting up a new center of excellence, but no major changes have been seen so far.
Are players afraid of going to NCA?
Munaf Patel said that NCA has now become only a rehabilitation center (recovery from injury). If a player gets injured, he is sent to NCA, gets fit there and comes straight back to the team. But the real problem is who is there to correct his mistakes? Be it a bowler or a batsman, along with fitness, skills also need improvement, which is not happening in NCA.
The most shocking statement of Munaf Patel was that the players are afraid of going to NCA, but remain silent because their livelihood depends on the BCCI system. No one avoids speaking because it can cause trouble. He said that higher officials should understand what is right and what is wrong in the system.
