BCCI open to shifting National Cricket Academy, writes to state bodies for land

The National Cricket Academy (NCA) could be shifted out of Bengaluru with the BCCI asking all its state associations to look for suitable land in their respective regions. The NCA Board met in Bengaluru yesterday and among other things discussed was the long pending issue of shifting it to a bigger facility.

“It has been decided that the secretary (Ajay Shirke) will write to all state associations and if any of them can get us a 30-40 acre land with necessary permissions from the state government, there is a good chance of NCA being shifted there,” Niranjan Shah, chairman of the NCA Board, told PTI today.

The BCCI has been looking for a suitable piece of land in Bengaluru but to no avail. In 2010, it had purchased 49 acre land for Rs 50 crore from the Karnataka government but the High Court termed the land illegal in 2013 following a series of PIL’s against its purchase.

Last month, BCCI joint secretary Amitabh Choudhary, had said that the Board had waited enough and the NCA would move out of Bangalore if the state government did not provide the land by June 30.

Shah, on his part, added: “The BCCI has been waiting for the land for long. The current set up at the Chinnaswamy Stadium is too insufficient for the Academy’s needs. We will have to look elsewhere if the land is not provided”.