It was exactly a year ago, Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar
visited the National Cricket Academy as the first guest lecturer
Santhosh S18-May-2001It was exactly a year ago, Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar
visited the National Cricket Academy as the first guest lecturer.
Gavaskar who was one of the five members of the NCA committee, formed
under the chairmanship of Raj Singh Dungarpur, spent time with the
trainees. Accompanying him was the Director Hanumant Singh and coaches
Roger Binny and Vasu Paranjpe.It was all good news for Indian cricket that former players of
Gavaskar’s stature were giving back quality time to the game. Wards
like Yuvraj Singh definitely benefited from the words of advice
Gavaskar had for him to play his natural game and not get unduly
worried about matters of technique. Yuvraj went on to make his debut
in the ICC KnockOut Championship in Nairobi and fired the imagination
of the Indian cricket fans with a breathtaking innings against the
Aussies.Gavaskar did question the wisdom of the BCCI in giving the NCA
trainees a three-day match against the visiting Zimbabwe team. He was
of the opinion that there were other players in India who deserved to
play a match against a touring side. As is the norm in most cases,
people in power do not take criticism lightly. Dungarpur launched a
personal attack on Sunil Gavaskar through a tabloid, questioning
Gavaskar’s sincerity to his position in the NCA. As the whole world
would know, Gavaskar always plays with a straight bat and he offered
the same to Dungarpur’s volley, offering his resignation.NCA, which was modelled on the academy in Australia, was further
thrown into despair when Hanumant Singh and Vasu Paranjpe followed
Gavaskar in putting in their resignation. It was a terrible climax to
the year 2000 in which three players, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik
and Nikhil Haldipur were thrown out of the academy on disciplinary
grounds. Ironical it might sound that in the following months
Harbhajan Singh turned to out to be the match winner for India in the
Test series against Australia.Unlike the professional set-up in Australia, NCA has struggled to
produce the goods. Though Rodney Marsh has been involved in an
advisory capacity, NCA has been tied up in a knot, struggling to find
a way forward. But not for long; by the end of March this year, NCA
was again in news. Sunil Gavaskar’s resignation was turned down and
Hanumant Singh made a comeback as a committee member. No wonder
cricket is called the game of glorious uncertainties.Following the home series win against Australia, with Indian cricket
buzzing after the gloomy days of the match-fixing saga, NCA announced
its intention of setting up five zonal academies. In addition to the
20 odd trainees at the NCA, each of the zonal academies feature 20
wards in their training programme. Definitely it gives more players
the opportunity to fine-tune their game. All that needs to be seen is
whether the NCA and its five zonal wings will produce the goods in the
longer run. The players and the avid fans will be praying and hoping
that NCA will be run in a professional manner with a clear focus on
the game itself.NCA has not delivered anything spectacular to Indian cricket so far.
Now that the likes of Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Roger Binny, Nari
Contractor, Syed Kirmani and others are involved in the running of NCA
and the zonal academies, the days of petty ego clashes and other farce
might be put to the back burner and cricket may get its proper due.
People like Gavaskar have so much in them to pass on to the younger
generation that the future of the game in India looks bright and
prosperous. Hope is a good thing, if not the best thing in life.
