New Delhi, Aug 3 (IANS): Jay Shah, the Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has said that a new facility of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) will be opening shortly in Bengaluru.

“Very excited to announce that the @BCCI’s new National Cricket Academy (NCA) is almost complete and will be opening shortly in Bengaluru. The new NCA will feature three world-class playing grounds, 45 practice pitches, indoor cricket pitches, an Olympic-size swimming pool and state-of-the-art training, recovery and sports science facilities.” Jay Shah wrote in a social media post on Saturday.

"This initiative will help our nation’s current and future cricketers develop their skills in the best possible environment!” wrote Shah in his post on ‘X’ with the pictures of the new NCA facility being completed," he said in his post on X.

In February 2022, Shah and Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI President at that time, announced the construction of a new NCA facility on 45 acres of land in Devanahalli Taluk, near the Bengaluru International Airport. The BCCI had secured the land on a 99-year lease from the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) for around INR 50 crore.

As of now, since the NCA was established in 2000, it has been running on the premises of the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) had rented out to the BCCI its Ground B for outdoor practice, besides an indoor practice facility, and separate space for a modern gymnasium in the Chinnaswamy Stadium premises. Currently, it is also used for the rehabilitation of injured players.

In the last few years, it has been felt that the infrastructure near the land packet near the Chinnaswamy Stadium was not sufficient for further expansion of the facility. Because of this, the BCCI decided to set up a new NCA complex.