Munaf Patel (screengrab)
Former India pacer and current Delhi Capitals bowling coach Munaf Patel has expressed serious concerns about the Indian cricket ecosystem and called for urgent reforms in the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and the domestic structure.Munaf, speaking on TOI Sports’ Bombay Sports Exchange Podcast, did not hold back in his assessment, suggesting that the current system lacks a strong pipeline and has inadvertently shut down specialized institutions. He emphasized that basic infrastructure, including access to physios, trainers and structured coaching, must be strengthened at the state level to produce quality cricketers on a sustained basis.
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Bombay Sport Exchange: Munaf Patel on Gautam Gambhir, Virat vs Bumrah and Indian bowling. Munaf was particularly critical of the NCA, describing it as too focused on rehabilitation rather than holistic player development.“Just look at the setup,” he said. “If you go inside the NCA, you will understand everything. I have 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 the Australian Center of Excellence model. ”In 2000-01, when the NCA started, Raj Singh Dungarpur and others built it using the Australian Center of Excellence model. They brought their coaching manual and implemented it in India. Since then Australia has updated their manuals several times but we still follow the same 25 year old manual from 2000. It hasn’t really evolved. Hopefully things can change with the new Center of Excellence, but it hasn’t happened yet,” Munaf said during the podcast. One of his sharpest criticisms was the current role of the NCA, which he likened to a “hospital”.”Tell me this, when I get hurt, I’ll go to the NCA. Why? To get fit. It became more of a hospital. You heal up, come back and go straight to the team. But who corrects your mistakes? If I’m a bowler or a batsman, it’s not just about fitness, my skills also need improvement,” Munaf said.Munaf also disclosed that many players are refusing to go to NCA but are not speaking due to fear of livelihood.”The players are afraid to go to the NCA, nobody really wants to go. But everyone is silent because their livelihood depends on it. No one wants to talk because it might cause trouble. However, the higher authorities should know what is right and what is wrong,” he added.Highlighting structural gaps, Munaf pointed to a lack of monitoring in India’s vast domestic circuit: “There is no system to monitor what is happening in domestic cricket. For that, the NCA needs to be more regional,” he said.
