The Board of Control for Cricket in India wants India head coach Ravi Shastri to be involved with the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
Sourav Ganguly, the Board president, seemed more or less pleased with how Team India has fared so far under Shastri’s tenure. But he also reminded that India haven’t won a multi-team tournament under his coaching.
“Apart from Dravid, who’s the NCA director, there is Paras (Mhambrey) and Bharat Arun also goes there. It will be about creating a system so that Ravi is involved more with the NCA till the time he is (India) coach. We’ll try and make it an even better Centre of Excellence, “ Sourav stressed.
Talking further about Shastri, Sourav said: “He has done well with India. He is with us for the next two years. The only thing is that India haven’t been able to win a world tournament so far. It’s a great side, but just needs to clear that one particular hurdle… We’ll deal with it when the time comes.”
Sourav met Rahul Dravid on Wednesday to discuss the roadmap for the NCA. And the very next day the Board’s ethics officer DK Jain asked Dravid to depose on the conflict of interest issue on November 12.
“It’s an old matter... This conflict has been addressed in the last status report... A hearing is there (on this issue) on November 27, so we will see what happens then,” Sourav commented, adding that the Board’s annual general meeting will take place in the third week of November.
The AGM is likely to be held on November 25, the penultimate day of the India-Bangladesh pink-ball Test at Eden Gardens.
Elaborating on his meeting with Dravid, Sourav said: “As for the meeting with Rahul, we basically discussed the functions of the NCA. The meeting went on for two hours and we spoke about the way forward.
“A lot of work goes on in the NCA. It shows in the performances of the senior as well as junior teams as to how well the NCA is functioning.”
Bigger space will make the NCA even better as it proceeds towards a new complex, Sourav said.
“We are building a new NCA. Once that’s complete, the NCA will get bigger. Bigger the space, better will it be.”