Mumbai: Senior cricket board (BCCI) officials met Centre of Excellence head VVS Laxman in Mumbai on Friday to draw up a future roadmap with pathway programmes for multiple formats, also addressing the recent falling standards of India in Test cricket.
India have lost five of their last seven home Tests, three against New Zealand in late 2024 when seniors like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and R Ashwin were on their last legs, and two more recently against South Africa, where the transitioning home team failed to compete.
While the nitty-gritty of those losses will be discussed later, with the immediate focus of the team management on the upcoming T20 World Cup, a lack of defensive skills at junior levels was marked for improvement. “A lot of younger players are attracted towards white-ball cricket watching IPL. They watch newer shots like the reverse sweep being played, so all their focus is on improving their attacking game. We have to work to retain their interest towards red-ball cricket,” BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said.
“It was discussed that we need to improve their defensive skills, the art of staying at the crease longer. Areas have been identified. For implementation, we will have more meetings. There are reasons we are not doing as well in red-ball cricket. This was a soul-searching exercise.”
{{/usCountry}}“It was discussed that we need to improve their defensive skills, the art of staying at the crease longer. Areas have been identified. For implementation, we will have more meetings. There are reasons we are not doing as well in red-ball cricket. This was a soul-searching exercise.”
{{/usCountry}}Past players Mithun Manhas, who is BCCI president, and Abey Kuruvilla, the BCCI GM, were part of the discussions. There have been media reports of BCCI considering split coaching with Gautam Gambhir in charge of only white-ball teams and Laxman for Tests, but BCCI has refuted them.
During the past season, format overlap due to a congested international schedule hampered Test preparations. Going ahead, having more streamlined ‘A’ programmes that serve as shadow tours was an issue that was deliberated upon.
The post of sports science head remains vacant since Nitin Patel quit in March. “For some very highly technical positions in the sports science department, very few qualified people are available. How to cover up this area was discussed,” Saikia said.
“Everything we do for men’s cricket, the planning will be replicated for women’s cricket,” he added.
“ICC-BCB matter”
On the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) asking the ICC to shift the team’s T20 World Cup matches from India to co-host Sri Lanka, Saikia said it was outside his domain and a matter between ICC and BCB. ICC officials HT spoke with on Friday remain hopeful that BCB will come along with the original plan, with an assurance of complete security to the Bangladesh team in India.
BCB director in row
Meanwhile, BCB director and finance committee chairman Nazmul Islam has landed in controversy after accusing former skipper Tamim Iqbal of being an “Indian agent”. His remark came after Tamim, in his media comments, asked BCB to prioritise cricket above everything else before taking a final call on Bangladesh’s participation in the T20 World Cup.