This week last year: NCA and the lessons to be learned

It 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.