BCCI'S think-tank on NCA, Bangalore

Former Captain Sunil Gavaskar quit the Academy membership over disagreement with 'Rajbhai', but came back as Chairperson from 2001 to 2005.

World Cup hero Kapil Dev was its Chairperson for only a year before he was sacked by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for his involvement with the International Cricket League (ICL), a tournament not approved by BCCI which later modelled its Indian Premier League (IPL) on the very same lines.

The 'conflict of interest' charge took Ravi Shastri as well as India's ace spinner and ex-captain Anil Kumble's toll as Chairpersons.

NCA is surrounded by Chinnaswamy stadium which makes it the best place in the city to unwind with a couple of drinks while the gentle evening breeze wafts across extra- cover from Cubbon Park.

The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), in addition to cricket runs an excellent kitchen for its members. Their Chicken Tikka and Gobi Manchurian, as hot as Srinath's vicious bouncers and Kumble's flippers, make a deadly combination of appetizers.

Usually, NCA bosses drove straight from airport to the ground, had their sun-downers and were off next morning to their second calling, golf. Some went to Puttaparthi, Kukke Subramanya where Sachin also went once when his hand continued to create problems despite his surgery.

Sehwag came for post- operation rehabilitation and so did Gambhir recently. NCA over the years has been reduced to a mere physiotherapy centre.

Since nobody knew exactly why it was set up, they had no idea for its future either; hence, the brainstorming.

BCCI President N Srinivasan was at the chair.

In any BCCI meetings, the opener is always Arun Jaitley. He can read any situation with the eagle eye of a Sunil Gavaskar and a hawk-like vision of a Subramanian Swamy.

'Mr President, let me share an open secret with you. If our team is winning, they don't need an academy. If they are on a losing stretch, where do they have time to unlearn, re-learn and re-vitalize? Any drubbing in an away series is pushed to the background by an easy one-day international (ODI) or Twenty20 series in presence of 30000+ cheering fans after which our associations go to the bank laughing all the way.'

'What do you want to say, Arunji?'

'Just this. NCA is of no use to Team India. I think we should let out NCA along with Chinnaswamy stadium to Team Anna so that Anna can practice his fasts. Anna may have to do a lot more fasts in the coming years and I think they can afford it. We will have a steady income'.

No BCCI meeting is complete without a reference to income earned or due, fact or fiction.

'It's a great idea, Arunji. As always, I like your foresight. What do you have Shuklaji? The President asked Vice-president Rajiv Shukla.

'Why don't we build a Studio at NCA on the lines of Film City? We should get MIB3 Producer Steven Spielberg or Avtar Producer Jon Landau to put a State-of the Art studio at Chinnaswamy so that we can shoot ads like, 'Push Karo, Khush Raho,' 'Dimag ki Batti Jalao' etc with our own players. Our IPL partners-cum-film stars Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty can coach our boys in, 'Boost is the secret of my energy', 'Fair and Handsome' ads. We can take on Hollywood and UEFA in one stroke'.

'Why this is an excellent idea, Rajiv! This opens a whole new dimension to our operations. Rahul Dravid can write lines and lyrics for jingles; Suresh Raina and Sanjay Manjrekar can sing playback. What are your thoughts, Shashank?'

Shashank Manohar is known for his out-of-box thinking that has helped them come out of sticky situations in the past.

'I think we should build a nice racing track around Chinnaswamy like the Buddh. We may need some more land. It is never a problem to acquire land in Bangalore.'

'You want to put an F1 racing track there? Will it work?'

'Believe me...Anything Sachin Tendulkar and Shah Rukh Khan attempt will never fail! Yuvi and Sourav are also keen to join them. If Sachin can get his friends Michael and Ralf Schumacher put a racing track like the Buddh we will be ready for 'Force BCCI' races. You can wave the chequered flag at the inaugural event. The tracks will be around the stadium and won't affect the pitch. I am sure we can get Vijay Mallya & Subrata Roy also on board.'

'That sounds too good. Now we have some fantastic ideas to work with.'

'While all this will take time to fructify, what shall we do with NCA meanwhile?'

'I was anticipating this question, Arunji. The Bangalore Turf Club has been asked to move out of their premises by the Karnataka Government and the courts have also turned down their please. Till they get their own place they have requested us to allow use of the National Defence Academy (NDA), Chinnaswamy Grounds and KSCA kitchen on their race days. Now you have to go to Bangalore and convince Kumble to continue. Let me read out their fantastic offer.....'