NCA feels more like a 'Hospital'... players are fearful of going: Munaf Patel
Former India pacer Munaf Patel has voiced strong concerns about India's cricketing ecosystem, urging reforms at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and domestic structure. He criticized the NCA's focus on rehabilitation over holistic development and highlighted the lack of a strong feeder pathway, advocating for strengthened grassroots infrastructure.
Former India pacer and current Delhi Capitals bowling coach Munaf Patel has raised serious concerns about India’s cricketing ecosystem, calling for urgent reforms in the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and the domestic structure. Speaking on TOI Sports’ Bombay Sports Exchange Podcast, Munaf did not hold back in his assessment, suggesting that the current system lacks a strong feeder pathway and has inadvertently sidelined specialised institutions. He stressed that grassroots infrastructure, including access to physiotherapists, trainers, and structured coaching, must be strengthened at the state level to produce quality cricketers consistently.
Munaf was particularly critical of the NCA, describing it as overly focused on rehabilitation rather than holistic player development. “Just look at the setup,” he said. “If you go inside the NCA, you’ll understand everything.
I’ve been saying this for a long time, it needs to change, 100 percent. ” Tracing its origins, Munaf pointed out that the NCA was built in the early 2000s based on Australia’s Centre of Excellence model. ''Back in 2000-01, when the NCA started, Raj Singh Dungarpur and others built it by adopting Australia’s Centre of Excellence model.
They brought their coaching manual and implemented it in India. Since then, Australia has updated their manuals multiple times, but we are still following the same 25-year-old manual from 2000. It hasn’t really evolved.