NEW DELHI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has drawn up a roadmap to address India's recent overseas setbacks, mounting player injuries and preparations for the 2027 ODI World Cup, with secretary Devajit Saikia revealing details of Thursday's high-level review meeting in Mumbai.
The meeting, attended by head coach Gautam Gambhir, Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill, T20I captain Shreyas Iyer and Centre of Excellence director VVS Laxman, reviewed India's recent tours of Ireland and England as well as the team's preparations for the next phase of the international calendar.
Chief selector Ajit Agarkar was absent, but Saikia said there was no controversy behind his non-participation and insisted no discussion took place about his future.
Saikia strongly rejected suggestions of a communication gap between the team management and the Centre of Excellence, particularly after several high-profile injury setbacks.
"Everybody is on the same page. BCCI is working in a very well like a well oiled engine," Saikia told reporters.
"There is proper coordination amongst all the wings of BCCI, whether it is women's teams committees or their technical staff or their coaches, vis-a-vis the COE, vis-a-vis the Indian men's team's coaching staff and the head coach. There is no difficulty in the coordination, everything is moving in the right direction."
However, he admitted that the frequency of injuries remains a major concern and said the board intends to address it through changes to the next Future Tours Programme (FTP).
"The only challenge which we are facing is that there are too many matches in the year and that is why in the next FTP we will do certain things, we will take certain measures."
The proposed changes will particularly affect preparation for tours to SENA countries — South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia.
"We have instructed our FTP persons who will be meeting very soon in various international forums that our FTP should be in such a way it should be scheduled that there is proper rest for the players as well as some kind of acclimatisation or some kind of friendly matches before any major series in SENA countries," Saikia said.
The comments come after India suffered a difficult run in overseas white-ball cricket, losing 0-2 to Ireland in the T20Is before a 1-4 defeat to England in the five-match series. India also lost the ODI series in England 1-2.
Saikia acknowledged India's shortcomings and said the review meeting focused on understanding why the team had struggled.
"We discussed (about) our team performed in England and Ireland and also about what we are going to do about the next one year. The road map has been prepared and we will be doing some exercises so that we have a very good performance in 2027 (ODI) World Cup," he said.
"Yes, we did not do well. We lost matches in Ireland and England, so we wanted to know what the reasons were. We have to do certain soul searching about that
The meeting, attended by head coach Gautam Gambhir, Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill, T20I captain Shreyas Iyer and Centre of Excellence director VVS Laxman, reviewed India's recent tours of Ireland and England as well as the team's preparations for the next phase of the international calendar.
Chief selector Ajit Agarkar was absent, but Saikia said there was no controversy behind his non-participation and insisted no discussion took place about his future.
Saikia strongly rejected suggestions of a communication gap between the team management and the Centre of Excellence, particularly after several high-profile injury setbacks.
"Everybody is on the same page. BCCI is working in a very well like a well oiled engine," Saikia told reporters.
"There is proper coordination amongst all the wings of BCCI, whether it is women's teams committees or their technical staff or their coaches, vis-a-vis the COE, vis-a-vis the Indian men's team's coaching staff and the head coach. There is no difficulty in the coordination, everything is moving in the right direction."
However, he admitted that the frequency of injuries remains a major concern and said the board intends to address it through changes to the next Future Tours Programme (FTP).
"The only challenge which we are facing is that there are too many matches in the year and that is why in the next FTP we will do certain things, we will take certain measures."
The proposed changes will particularly affect preparation for tours to SENA countries — South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia.
"We have instructed our FTP persons who will be meeting very soon in various international forums that our FTP should be in such a way it should be scheduled that there is proper rest for the players as well as some kind of acclimatisation or some kind of friendly matches before any major series in SENA countries," Saikia said.
The comments come after India suffered a difficult run in overseas white-ball cricket, losing 0-2 to Ireland in the T20Is before a 1-4 defeat to England in the five-match series. India also lost the ODI series in England 1-2.
Saikia acknowledged India's shortcomings and said the review meeting focused on understanding why the team had struggled.
"We discussed (about) our team performed in England and Ireland and also about what we are going to do about the next one year. The road map has been prepared and we will be doing some exercises so that we have a very good performance in 2027 (ODI) World Cup," he said.
"Yes, we did not do well. We lost matches in Ireland and England, so we wanted to know what the reasons were. We have to do certain soul searching about that
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