Jay Shah drove Bengaluru BCCI Centre of Excellence from 40 acres of idle land to operational facility

Former BCCI secretary Jay Shah led the drive to convert a 40-acre idle parcel into the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, which became operational in November 2024 and is now nearing its second anniversary. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia and former India batter VVS Laxman credited Shah with pushing the project through legal and logistical obstacles.

The project began after the BCCI opted to move away from the temporary National Cricket Academy arrangement and establish a permanent Centre of Excellence. Saikia said Shah gathered the board's senior officials and insisted the build proceed rapidly: "He took everybody on board in BCCI's Apex Council and made a firm decision that this establishment (CoE) has to be done on a war footing, and we need to move on from the old, temporary arrangement of National Cricket Academy." The first major barrier, Saikia said, was preparing the land and resolving regulatory issues before construction could start.

Saikia described Shah’s hands-on role in overcoming those obstacles: "Jay came here personally on several occasions to clear all the legal hurdles to start the work, because a lot of regulations are to be followed once we have to start a proper project and on top of that, we have to regularise the land." He added that land regularisation was the central difficulty: "That was the biggest challenge, because this kind of land, 40 acres, was lying idle, and a lot of people wanted to take it back. So everything had to be cleared before the work started from 14th February 2022."

The transition from the old NCA setup also required administrative and personnel changes, with Roger Binny and VVS Laxman involved in the process. Saikia said: "But the transition was a challenge. Roger Binny was there, and we have taken the help of VVS Laxman who by that time, was part of this scheme." Laxman recalled being asked to relocate by Shah and then BCCI president Sourav Ganguly in 2021 after Rahul Dravid took over as head coach of the Indian team: "In 2021, when Jay and then BCCI president Sourav (Ganguly) reached out to me, saying that Rahul (Dravid) is moving to the Indian team as the head coach, and we want that continuity. "It was a tough decision for me. But as a cricketer, I always thought that it's the responsibility of former cricketers who benefited through this great game to contribute back to the game. And with that intention, obviously, I moved to Bangalore in December 2021," he said.

Laxman described the construction phase and credited Shah’s ongoing involvement in meetings with architects and contractors: "In the span of close to two years, the entire infrastructure was up and running. And huge credit to Jay, because he was the secretary of the BCCI and I myself seen firsthand how much interest he used to take in various meetings we used to have with the architects, with the L&T team, to make sure that each and every aspect of the COE, or then NCA, is taken care of," Laxman said. He added: "And it's great to see that, you know, the vision was translated into reality. And I think all leaders have vision. But the vision will only bear the fruit when it's translated into reality. And that reality is what we've seen in 2024, November," he said.

The operational Centre of Excellence replaced the previous NCA model and, according to the report, evolved from the initial 40-acre site and cleared regulatory work into "a sprawling facility designed to serve Indian cricket." VVS Laxman also said the search for a Head of Sports Science and Medicine remains unresolved: he stated the hunt is "still on" despite Nitin Patel quitting the post almost 18 months ago.

The 40 acres that once lay idle now house the BCCI's Centre of Excellence, a project that took shape in less than two years after work began in February 2022.