The anatomy of Indian cricket's conveyor belt

Bengaluru: Those handling the complex innards of a machine called the National Cricket Academy never really bothered explaining the mechanism for they probably assumed it far too complex or far too revealing.

So, when NCA chief V V S Laxman ate up the better part of 49 minutes and 15 seconds to reveal the anatomy of what is now being called the 'BCCI's Centre of Excellence', it was perplexing to start, but it soon assumed academic precision with heavy touches of pride, purpose, pragmatism and a desperate desire to orchestrate the future of Indian cricket. 

The former India batter opened up to the media for the first time since he took the reins in December 2021. Excerpts:  

How do you maintain the balance between being an academy which rehabilitates and being one which upgrades players?

A player getting injured is part and parcel of any sportsman's career. Working with a lot of these players, I know the intensity with which they play the game. So I think it's (injury) bound to happen. The idea, for us, is to figure how to prevent injuries. That's why recovery, focusing on the fitness standards, and maintaining the fitness standards are very, very critical. In fact, what we have done over the last two years is to standardise fitness protocols, and the fitness levels right from top to bottom. It's not only the Indian cricket team, but even the state teams. Since everyone knows what fitness levels they have to have and the programmes they have to follow, when they come to the national team, they're not starting from scratch. As far as the skill is concerned, everyone may be different, but the fitness standards can be maintained. So I think if a player is fit, if a player's fitness standards are improving day by day, I believe his performance will also be enhanced.

How do you handle such a logistically taxing job?

Obviously I was very reluctant to take up this job. But once I embraced this position and role, it's been such a satisfying and fulfilling experience for me. Because you're dealing with not only the established international stars, but you're creating the bench strength. And that has been very, very fulfilling, you know, to see the amount of talent, to see the amount of potential at our disposal. I can say with a lot of confidence, barring a couple of skillsets, for the next 10 years, we've got a lot of players who will make our country proud. And this, I'm not only talking about men's, but about women's as well.

What is your role in achieving these standards?

It comes down to how you monitor them and how you groom them so they can realise their potential. For that, I've got a wonderful team. All these coaches and the heads of these departments play a very important role in fulfilling the expectations I have from what we do. Typically, we discuss, we plan, we brainstorm and come up with the programmes necessary so that the young deserving players get an opportunity, exposure to develop as cricketers. Then there are various coaches who go out and execute that. This is not only the coaches who are on a full-time basis with the NCA, but also those in zonal cricket camps. They are also very important in this ecosystem. Since we pay attention to our zonal coaches, they are also ranked and then we are also able to create bench strength among coaches. Just like this, we upskill the physios, the SNCs (Strength and Conditioning Coach), the performance analysts. The whole idea is that from top to bottom, right through our first-class, age-group ecosystem to what the national team is doing, is on the same page.

How has the CoE (erstwhile NCA) shaped Indian cricket?

The important thing is to create the bench strength. Everyone talks about why the Indian team is at helm... Obviously we won the World Cup in West Indies which was a great result. But if you see all the three formats, we have dominated. Not only the rankings, we have dominated. And there is so much of supply chain as far as cricket is concerned. There are some tools I have been part of when they are preparing for some other format. That means the amount of players we have at our disposal is a real blessing. Also, the robust first-class structure we have is amazing. No other country in the world has that. So, overall everyone is aligned to one vision which is to make Indian cricket team the best in the world.

There used to be a disconnect between the NCA and zonal coaches which often led to confusion among young cricketers. How have you solved for that?

Even the methodology of coaching has changed. You know, for any player, it's options which we give. It's not that we almost dictate them that you have to do this or you have to change. No, it's the options and ultimately the player should feel comfortable, you know, acknowledging and accepting that option. And if he feels that that's working for him, he will embrace it and he will continue to use it through the season. The objective is to give that exposure to the player. And other thing which we have done is monitoring the players, both men and women. So, the way we do is, when Rahul (Dravid) was the head coach of the Indian team, he used to take care of the contracted players, and we at NCA used to take care of the targeted players. Then we had the emerging players and then the under-19 players. So, we used to take care of them throughout the year. Once we have these players, we inform the state coaches of the same so the program is maintained. It's not that we are telling something different and suddenly the player is finding it totally different when he goes back to the state association. The information is passed, the communication channel is very very transparent and open. Ultimately, state association coaches spend a lot more time with that player than what we do so we have learnt a good way to collaborate with them.