BCCI Centre of Excellence budget rises to Rs 127 crore

The BCCI Centre of Excellence budget has been raised to Rs 127 crore, according to a Times of India report carried widely on Friday. The figure for the previous year was Rs 92 crore. That is an increase of roughly Rs 35 crore, or about 38 per cent. The board has not published a release of its own.

The Bengaluru facility handles rehabilitation and conditioning for centrally contracted men's and women's players. It replaced the National Cricket Academy in function and name. VVS Laxman heads it.

Inside the Rs 35 crore increase

The reported numbers are narrow but specific. They describe a projected budget for 2026-27 rather than money already spent, and the reporting ties the rise to the volume of players passing through the centre.

• Rs 92 crore: Centre of Excellence budget for the previous year
• Rs 127 crore: budget projected for 2026-27
• Rs 35 crore: the reported year on year increase
• 32: men's players rehabilitated between April 2025 and March 2026

SportsTak put the combined men's and women's caseload at 68 players over 20 months. Pro Ace Predictions reported that 20 of the 32 men were centrally contracted. Neither figure appears in more than one outlet, so both are worth treating as reported rather than settled.

The rehabilitation caseload in Bengaluru

Thirty-two men's players in twelve months is the figure three outlets agree on. India played across all three formats in that window. An IPL season sat in the middle of it. The reporting attributes the load mainly to soft tissue strain and fatigue rather than impact injury. Head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill are both described as having raised the frequency of breakdowns internally.

None of the outlets names a figure for the women's side on its own. The 68 total covers both. That makes the men's and women's split impossible to read from the reporting as it stands.

A vacancy in sports science and medicine

SportsTak also reported that the board has invited applications for a full time Head of Sports Science and Medicine based at the centre. Dhananjay Kaushik currently oversees operations there. A permanent appointment at that level would sit above the existing physiotherapy and strength staff. No timeline has been reported. No salary band has been reported either.

Workload before the 2027 World Cup

The ODI World Cup is held in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia in 2027. It runs to 57 matches across 12 venues. India's preparation runs through a crowded home and away calendar before then. Budget decisions taken now cover that whole cycle.

Boards and academies running smaller facilities will have a public number to read against. Few publish one. The Bengaluru figure is unusual in being reported at all, even secondhand. It arrives without a breakdown. How the money splits between staff, equipment and player time has not been reported.