BCCI appoints three former players as new NCA coaches

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday appointed former Indian cricketers, WV Raman, TA Sekhar and Narendra Hirwani on the coaching panel of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) Board.

Raman takes up batting coaching responsibilities while Sekhar and Hirwani will handle pace and spin in the bowling department.

“W V Raman is the batting coach, T A Sekar is the fast bowling coach and Hirwani is the spin bowling coach, were appointed today on the NCA board. There will be a panel of coaches to assist them,” BCCI joint secretary and meeting convener Amitabh Chaudhary told the press.

Raman did not have a great Test career as he scored only 448 runs in the 11 Tests that he played for India and not a single century to his name. However, he had a much better first-class record where he scored just under 8000 runs and averaged more than 45 with the bat, while also picking up 85 wickets in the 132 matches he played.

Hirwani had a great start to his Test career, but could not live up to the initial expectations as he played only eight years for the national team. In the 17 Tests he played, he picked up 66 wickets. On his debut against the West Indies in 1987-88, Hirwani picked up 16 wickets in the first match.

Sekhar played only two Test matches for India, both against Pakistan in the 1982-83 season.

“The process will involve interviewing them and NCA director Dilip Vengsarkar (former India captain and ex-chief selector) has been given the job of shortlisting these people,” Chaudhary continued.

According to some BCCI sources, the NCA, which is currently based in Bangalore will be shifted to either Pune or Dharamshala if a new place is found within a month in Bangalore, as there is a need to find a permanent location.

15 coaches cum talent spotters are to be appointed by the NCA Board in order to help find young and talented players within the two age groups of Under-16 and Under-19, the sources said. These coaches will be working in the five zonal centres – Ranchi (East), Wayanad (South), Nagpur (Central), Baroda (West) and Dharamsala (North) – on the look-out for players in the batting, spin bowling and fast bowling departments.