Munaf Patel (screenshot)
Former India pacer and current bowling coach of Delhi Capitals Munaf Patel Raising serious concerns about the Indian cricket ecosystem, calls have been made for urgent reforms to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and domestic structures.Speaking on TOI Sports’ Mumbai Sports Exchange podcast, Munaf did not hesitate in his assessment that the current system lacks strong feeder channels and inadvertently excludes professional bodies. He stressed that grassroots infrastructure including physiotherapists, trainers and structured coaching must be strengthened at the state level to sustainably produce quality cricketers.
Munaf was particularly critical of the NCA, saying it focused too much on rehabilitation rather than the overall development of players.“Just look at the setup,” he said. “If you get into the NCA you understand everything. I’ve been saying this for a long time, it needs to change, 100 per cent.”Tracing its origins, Munaf noted that the NCA was established in the early 2000s based on the Australian Centers of Excellence model. “Back in January 2000, when the NCA was formed, Raj Singh Dungarpur and others adopted the Australian Center of Excellence model to establish it. They brought the coaching manual and implemented it in India. Since then, Australia has updated their manual several times but we still follow the 2000-25 It’s not really evolving. Hopefully that might change with the establishment of new centers of excellence, but so far that hasn’t happened,” Munaf said on the podcast. One of his sharpest criticisms was the NCA’s current role, which he likened to a “hospital”.“Tell me, when I get injured, I go to NCA. Why? For fitness. It becomes more like a hospital. You rehab, come back and then get straight into the team. But who corrects your mistakes? If I am a bowler or a batsman, it is not just about physical fitness, my technique also needs to improve,” Munaf said.Munaf also revealed that many players refused to go to the NCA but did not dare to speak out because they were worried about their livelihood.“Players are afraid of going to NCA, no one really wants to go. But everyone is keeping silent as their livelihood depends on it. No one wants to speak out as it may cause trouble. However, higher authorities should know what is right and what is wrong,” he added.Highlighting the structural gap, Munaf pointed out the lack of monitoring of India’s vast domestic circuit and “there is no system to track what is going on in domestic cricket. For this, the NCA needs to be more regional,” he said.
