NCA Project: Former Pacers Lakshmipathy Balaji, Ranganath Vinay, Pankaj Singh Do Internship Under Cooley

Bidding to create a pool of quality bowling coaches, the NCA recently had an internship programme where well-known names like Lakshmipathy Balaji, Ranganath Vinay Kumar and Pankaj Singh upgraded their coaching skills under Ashes-winning mentor Troy Cooley. Cooley has been the fast bowling coach of both Australia and England men's teams at different times. NCA head VVS Laxman, who is preparing the road map for th country's Gen-Next cricketers, has briefed the BCCI bosses on the need to have more quality bowling coaches and hence, some domestic doyens, who have also played for India, were seen earning their stripes under Cooley's tutelage.

The sessions included current Level 2 coaches like CSK bowling coach Balaji, Vinay (MI scout), who is being touted as one of the most tactically sound among aspiring coaches along with Rajasthan legend Pankaj Singh, Mumbai's Avishkar Salvi, Kerala state team head coach Tinu Yohanan and Karnataka seamer Srinath Aravind.

All six have played for India with Balaji also creating a name for himself before injury cut short his international career.

It is understood that the NCA wanted to handpick coaches who have had distinguished first-class careers, if not international, and are more adept to the changing facets of cricket coaching at elite level.

So what exactly is Cooley's mantra of coaching? "His (Cooley) way of training coaches is very different from what we see in India. He believes that coaches shouldn't tinker with natural strength of any bowler. If a bowler is more comfortable bowling only inswing let it be," someone who closely watched the sessions told PTI.

But how does a coach also gets him to bowl an outswinger which doesn't come naturally to him? "What I gathered from Cooley's