da winzada777： It was exactly a year ago, Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskarvisited the National Cricket Academy as the first guest lecturer
Santhosh S18-May-2001It was exactly a year ago, Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskarvisited the National Cricket Academy as the first guest lecturer.Gavaskar who was one of the five members of the NCA committee, formedunder the chairmanship of Raj Singh Dungarpur, spent time with thetrainees. Accompanying him was the Director Hanumant Singh and coachesRoger Binny and Vasu Paranjpe.It was all good news for Indian cricket that former players ofGavaskar’s stature were giving back quality time to the game. Wardslike Yuvraj Singh definitely benefited from the words of adviceGavaskar had for him to play his natural game and not get undulyworried about matters of technique. Yuvraj went on to make his debutin the ICC KnockOut Championship in Nairobi and fired the imaginationof the Indian cricket fans with a breathtaking innings against theAussies.Gavaskar did question the wisdom of the BCCI in giving the NCAtrainees a three-day match against the visiting Zimbabwe team. He wasof the opinion that there were other players in India who deserved toplay a match against a touring side. As is the norm in most cases,people in power do not take criticism lightly. Dungarpur launched apersonal attack on Sunil Gavaskar through a tabloid, questioningGavaskar’s sincerity to his position in the NCA. As the whole worldwould know, Gavaskar always plays with a straight bat and he offeredthe same to Dungarpur’s volley, offering his resignation.NCA, which was modelled on the academy in Australia, was furtherthrown into despair when Hanumant Singh and Vasu Paranjpe followedGavaskar in putting in their resignation. It was a terrible climax tothe year 2000 in which three players, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartikand Nikhil Haldipur were thrown out of the academy on disciplinarygrounds. Ironical it might sound that in the following monthsHarbhajan Singh turned to out to be the match winner for India in theTest series against Australia.Unlike the professional set-up in Australia, NCA has struggled toproduce the goods. Though Rodney Marsh has been involved in anadvisory capacity, NCA has been tied up in a knot, struggling to finda way forward. But not for long; by the end of March this year, NCAwas again in news. Sunil Gavaskar’s resignation was turned down andHanumant Singh made a comeback as a committee member. No wondercricket is called the game of glorious uncertainties.Following the home series win against Australia, with Indian cricketbuzzing after the gloomy days of the match-fixing saga, NCA announcedits intention of setting up five zonal academies. In addition to the20 odd trainees at the NCA, each of the zonal academies feature 20wards in their training programme. Definitely it gives more playersthe opportunity to fine-tune their game. All that needs to be seen iswhether the NCA and its five zonal wings will produce the goods in thelonger run. The players and the avid fans will be praying and hopingthat NCA will be run in a professional manner with a clear focus onthe game itself.NCA has not delivered anything spectacular to Indian cricket so far.Now that the likes of Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Roger Binny, NariContractor, Syed Kirmani and others are involved in the running of NCAand the zonal academies, the days of petty ego clashes and other farcemight 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 youngergeneration that the future of the game in India looks bright andprosperous. Hope is a good thing, if not the best thing in life.