Will create system where Shastri more involved in NCA: Ganguly

Oct 31 (CRICKETNMORE) Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly on Thursday said a system will be created where head coach Ravi Shastri gets to spend more time at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

The BCCI has plans to transform NCA in Bengaluru into a state-of-the-art facility on the lines of Cricket Australia's High Performance Centre in Brisbane.

On Wednesday, Ganguly and other newly elected office-bearers met the NCA members, including head of cricket Rahul Dravid to discuss the same.

Ganguly, along with NCA officials, also visited the proposed land for building a new NCA facility near Bengaluru.

"We will create a system where Ravi's involvement is more in the NCA till the time he is coach. Rahul (Dravid) is there, Paras Mhambrey ( India U-19 and A coach) is there. Bharat Arun (India bowling coach) goes. We will try and make it a good centre of excellence but actually NCA does a lot of work. When you go in there, you realise the hard work they put in," he said.

On his visit, Ganguly said: "He is the head of NCA. He is one of the greats of the game. Basically I wanted to know about the functions of NCA. We are building a new NCA. It was a meeting for about two hours. I met him separately and wanted to find out what is the way forward. I think they do a lot of good work at the NCA.

"A lot of work goes around in the NCA. It is right in the heart of the city in Bengaluru. KSCA (Karnataka State Cricket Association) does help a lot. They don't even charge a penny for BCCI using the facilities. They have done a lot of good work with the NCA and it shows in the performance of the junior and senior teams. The bigger the space the better. So hopefully the NCA will get a lot more bigger," the former India captain said.

The proposed NCA project should be adequate to accommodate three grounds, indoor nets, administrative buildings, and the residential complex. The allotted land is believed to be on a 99-year lease.

The NCA, originally envisioned as a nursery of talent, has in recent years become a rehabilitation centre for injured players.