'New NCA a fantastic infrastructure and almost ready': Vengsarkar heaps laurels on new BCCI facility

Dilip Vengsarkar, a former India captain and current BCCI Apex Council member, on Wednesday expressed his pleasure over the 'almost ready' National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, which will be inaugurated later this week.

Vengsarkar spoke to PTI shortly after the virtual Apex Council meeting that lasted close to 20 minutes. The former chief selector had travelled to Bengaluru last week to have a look at the state of the art academy located close to city's international airport.

The new NCA features three grounds, 45 practice pitches, eight indoor nets, an Olympic size swimming pool, gym built around 16000 square feet and rehabilitation centre.

"I was there last week. It is a fantastic infrastructure. The grounds are big, the wickets are good, three grounds in total, 45 net wickets and a massive gym. It is all state of the art and almost ready," Vengsarkar said.

"The grounds are ready and they look beautiful. The main ground has almost an 85 yard boundary. I am sure all the work would be completed by now," he said ahead of the inauguration on Friday.

The Apex Council members as well as representative of BCCI's state units have been invited for the NCA opening which has been scheduled a day before the Annual General Meeting.

Also on the agenda was an update on the progress of indoor cricket academies being developed in six Northeastern states. The BCCI had laid the foundation stone for these projects back in May.

" The work there is also picking up pace. It is going on as per schedule," informed Vengsarkar.

The indoor cricket academies will serve players from Arunachal Pradesh , Manipur , Meghalaya , Mizoram , Nagaland and Sikkim and will be based in Shillong, Itanagar, Kohima, Aizawl, Imphal and Gangtok .

On the proposed renovation of the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai, Vengsarkar added: “It is not much actually. They have not renovated since long time so they decided to some renovation of the entire office.”