BCCI's court woes hit development

NEW DELHI: NCA, Coaches And Umpires Programmes Have Stagnated For Over A Year And Half. While the Indian cricket board (BCCI) fights court battles and fusses over electoral shenanigans, its developmental structure has become an unwitting victim.
The National Cricket Academy (NCA) has become out of bounds for upcoming cricketers for whom it was originally established. It was partly dissolved in 2014 to set up zonal wings of the academy which are yet to come up even though more than eight months have passed.Now, the academy in Bangalore is open for international cricketers only.
Programmes pertaining to coaches and umpires have also hit a roadblock. It is learnt that the board hasn't conducted examinations for coaches waiting to be graduate to the higher level.
While the annual workshops for emerging umpires have been happening as per schedule, the candidates are still waiting for the exams to qualify as certified umpires.
According to a BCCI official, legal wranglings surrounding the administrative set-up have affected the implementation of programmes meant for the growth of cricket.
"There have been no regular meetings for the sports academies. The frequency has come down drastically. While N Srinivasan (BCCI president in exile) has not been presiding over issues regarding cricket structure for over a year, no one has stepped in to take a call. In fact, umpires committee's president Ravi Savant had sent a letter to the board pointing out this issue. His notice wasn't even acknowledged," said the official close to the development, adding that the annual review of domestic umpires has not been tabled yet.
"The decision to set up zonal wings of the NCA was taken a year back but the path is yet to be chalked out. There are coaches who have cleared A level in March of 2013 and are still waiting to take the exams to qualify for the next level," said another source in the know of things.
One of the coaches, who has been undergoing the programme, said that there has been very little communication since the last examinations. "The board was very active in this matter. The procedure of graduating from one level to another used to be a very smooth. But since the last tests in March 2013, there has been very little told to us. All what is learnt is that the centre for coaches will be set up in Chennai and only then the programme will resume," said the coach.
However, the umpiring committee has managed to keep the annual workshop going which is carried out by international umpires, including former umpire Simon Taufel.
"The workshops are happening on time but the exams haven't been happening for a long time. The last batch of umpires who took the exam was nearly three years ago. There are quite a lot of umpires eager to become qualified umpires," a senior umpire told TOI.