KSCA academy will move to existing NCA facility

Bengaluru: The Karnataka State Cricket Association’s academy will get a spacious makeover as it goes from its current - somewhat cramped accommodation at the M Chinnaswamy stadium - to where the National Cricket Academy is, but move to the new facility in the days to come.

The NCA moves out of its original residence of 24 years at the stadium to a High Performance Centre in the proximity of the Kempegowda International Airport by the end of this month, and the KSCA will have significant space to work with. 

The Academy was started a couple of years after the NCA took birth to ensure a steady, quality stream of players at the grassroots level.

“We will expand the Academy to where the NCA is as soon as the move is complete,” KSCA president Raghuram Bhat told DH on Monday. “The physiotherapy centre and so on will remain but these facilities will be extended to the Academy players. They already have these facilities at the earlier location (about 500 metres from where the NCA is), but this will be an upgrade.”

Speaking of upgrades, Bhat revealed that not a lot can be done to the stadium as far as the structure is concerned because of the paucity of space. 

Save for a facelift before the 2011 World Cup, and some superficial upgrades for the 2023 World Cup, the structure has remained largely untouched since 1970.

When DH consulted architects specialising in the design of stadiums, they insisted that stadiums, especially older ones, cannot be worked on extensively because that would compromise their structural integrity. 

However, they did insist that post-50 years, the maintenance should assume utmost significance. 

“That’s definitely a concern since the stadium is old, but we have people coming in every three-four years to check the structural integrity of the stadium,” says Bhat. “They have their own metrics to tell us how safe the venue is, and we keep checking up with them since the stadium receives such high footfall throughout the year."