Paradise for any athlete: Gill praises BCCI’s Centre of Excellence

India’s Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill has spoken highly of the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE), crediting the state-of-the-art facility for ensuring his timely recovery ahead of the five-match T20I series against South Africa.

Gill injured his neck during the opening Test against the Proteas in Kolkata last month, forcing him out of both the second Test and the subsequent three-match ODI series. He then headed to the CoE to begin an intensive rehabilitation programme and has now regained full fitness as India prepare for the five-match T20I series beginning Tuesday.

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In a video shared by the BCCI on social media, Gill described the recovery process and the support he received at the CoE. “I’m feeling much better. I think the day that I came here, from that day till today, I’ve had quite a few skill sessions and some training sessions. So, I feel much, much better now. From recovery to training, I think for an athlete, it can’t get any better. It’s a paradise for any athlete. You come here, you want to get physically better, you want to get mentally better.”

The India captain went on to reflect on the top-class facilities available at the CoE and the role the NCA played in shaping his early cricketing years. “You can’t ask for better facilities. You know, you can go to the oxygen chamber. There’s cryo there, and some of the things that I’ve used for the recovery have been pretty amazing for me. What stood out for me was that there are so many machines that I don’t know how to use. That itself tells you, you know, how big the setup is.

“Growing up playing under-14, under-16, you know, it used to be a thing among us where we used to be like, ‘Someone has been to the NCA and come back.’ Watching that player, we used to be off that thing, you know, he’s gone to the NCA. You play the under-16 state; if you play the finals, you play seven to eight matches out of, I think, 200 players together that play in the under-16 state. Only 25-30 used to attend the NCA’s and the 16 NCA’s and it used to be a very big thing.

“We all used to look forward to coming here, you know, spending time with the coaches, training here. When you’re coming here, you know, you’re kind of the cream of the crop. So, you know, you have the skillset to be able to reach to the next level and make use of the facility where you know how I can go to the next level physically or how I can go to the next level mentally,” he added.

Gill also praised the coaches, trainers and physios at the NCA for their commitment to helping players grow. “You have got all the coaches here to work with us. You’ve got all the trainers and all the physios. But how willing are you to be able to work on yourself from that aspect is going to take you up that notch from the rest of the players, and that’s how I think everyone can, whosoever comes, I can make use of.”

With Gill back in the mix, India will look for a strong start when they face South Africa in the series opener at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack.