Muthiah unveils state of the art indoor facilities

A collection of dignitaries at one place means only one of two things - somebody important has died or something momentous was being unveiled. On Saturday, it was the latter at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore. The Chinnaswamy stadium has played host to the academy for over four months now. At a press conference held in Mumbai many months ago, both Raj Singh Dungarpur, Chairman NCA and Hanumant Singh, director NCA spoke dreamily of indoor practice facilities. Today that dream became a reality.

Built for the NCA by NottsSport, an English company, the indoor nets compare favourably with the finest in the world. Although India has had indoor practice facilities in Calcutta for many years now, this is the only one of its kind. With great attention to detail, the facility has been built to serve the purposes of the NCA admirably. From the state of the art (artificial) turf that has been laid, to the viewing galleries to the diffused lighting, no expense has been spared.

The facilities were formally inaugurated today by a bevy of cricket administrators including Jagmohan Dalmiya, AC Muthiah, PM Rungta, Jaywant Lele, Raj Singh Dungarpur and Hanumant Singh.

Speaking to scribes just before the facilities were inaugurated, Hanumant Singh was full of pride, "Unfortunately, all this while we had to cancel practice whenever it rained and conditions were too wet. Thanks to this indoor facility we will not be at the mercy of the weather anymore. Also, when you practice in the open, a lot of energy is spent retrieving balls. That will not happen anymore. This is especially vital considering we have a small squad over here."

Stepping away from the inauguration for a minute, Hanumant Singh was asked about the three trainees who had been expelled from the NCA, "I thought that was an old story," he began, and went on to add "the matter was discussed by the committee and it was unanimously agreed that we should not recall them. We have to maintain discipline here - that's of prime importance. Indiscipline is a very bad element to have, either in the academy or in the team for that matter"