The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru is nearing its second anniversary, with BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia recalling the work that went into setting up the facility.Saikia credited former BCCI secretary Jay Shah, who is now the International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman, with pushing the project and bringing officials together to ensure it was completed.“He took everybody on board in BCCI’s Apex Council and made a firm decision that this establishment (CoE) has to be done on a war footing, and we need to move on from the old, temporary arrangement of National Cricket Academy,” Saikia told select media at the BCCI CoE.Laxman, Head of Cricket at CoE, recalled moving from Hyderabad to Bengaluru in 2021 after Shah and then BCCI president Sourav Ganguly approached him.“In 2021, when Jay and then BCCI president Sourav (Ganguly) reached out to me, saying that Rahul (Dravid) is moving to the Indian team as the head coach, and we want that continuity.”“It was a tough decision for me. But as a cricketer, I always thought that it’s the responsibility of former cricketers who benefited through this great game to contribute back to the game. And with that intention, obviously, I moved to Bangalore in December 2021,” he said.Laxman also recalled Shah’s involvement in the project and his regular participation in meetings with the architects and L&T team.“In the span of close to two years, the entire infrastructure was up and running. And huge credit to Jay, because he was the secretary of the BCCI and I myself seen firsthand how much interest he used to take in various meetings we used to have with the architects, with the L&T team, to make sure that each and every aspect of the COE, or then NCA, is taken care of.“And it’s great to see that, you know, the vision was translated into reality. And I think all leaders have vision. But the vision will only bear the fruit when it’s translated into reality. And that reality is what we’ve seen in 2024, November,” he said.
