Pathway
The international pathway
One programme, run across two countries: camps at the Karnataka Institute of Cricket in Bengaluru, and turf T20 competition in Melbourne. Open to boys and girls, and to senior men and women.
What the programme is
A season built around two trips and two tournaments.
Selected players train at KIOC in Bengaluru for eight days each December and each April, and play the VECL December tournament on turf in Melbourne in between. From 2027 there is a third camp each September, timed to the Victorian school holidays.
The point is not the trip. It is that the same group of players is coached, assessed and put into competitive cricket repeatedly across a year, in two sets of conditions, with the performances recorded rather than remembered.
What a camp week contains
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Coached by KIOC staff
Sessions run by the academy’s own coaches, on their surfaces — cement, turf, artificial turf and matting — rather than by visiting staff working around them.
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Matches, not just nets
Matches against Indian opposition arranged by KIOC. Facing spin that grips from the first ball, in heat, against players who have never seen you bowl.
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Analysis and conditioning
Video and speed analysis, strength and conditioning, and an in-house physiotherapist on site through the camp.
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Living on site
Hostel accommodation at the academy for players who have travelled in, so the eight days are a working week rather than a visit.
To be confirmed The detailed day-by-day camp schedule sits in the programme profile.
Coming home
Players return into the Australian January block — Dowling Shield, Premier Under 18s and representative trials — having just had eight days of concentrated coaching and match cricket, rather than a month off. That is the part of the calendar the December camp is built around.
Who runs it
The partnership
Victorian Elite – KIOC High Performance International Pathway
The programme is run jointly. VECL runs the Australian end — the league, the fixtures, the venues and the December tournament. KIOC runs the Bengaluru end: their facility, their coaching staff, and the opposition they arrange.
Andrew Walton leads the programme on the Australian side and runs the camps; Irfan Sait and his staff coach them in Bengaluru.
The people
Who leads it.
Andrew Walton leads the programme and runs the camps. Irfan Sait hosts and coaches them at KIOC. The structure underneath sits with the Elite directors.
Built the two-country structure
Dhana Murugavel
Founder & Managing Director, Elite Cricket Group
Built the centres, and the tours before the league
Sivasankari Dhanasekar
Co-founder & Director, Elite Cricket Group
Leads the programme and the camps
Andrew Walton
Director, Victorian Elite Cricket League · Director, International High Performance Pathways
Hosts and coaches the camps in Bengaluru
Irfan Sait
Founder & Director, Karnataka Institute of Cricket
Karnataka Institute of Cricket, Bengaluru
Where the camps are held
The Karnataka Institute of Cricket, Bengaluru.
The camps are run at KIOC by KIOC's own coaching staff, against opposition they arrange. The academy's history, its facilities and the players it has coached are set out in full on the partners page.
The annual cycle
One year, both directions.
December 2026 is stage one of a repeating twelve-month cycle. Australian activity sits above the line, Indian activity below it.
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Oct 26
Try-outs
Selection for the squad. Squad named 31 October.
Confirmed
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Nov 26
Melbourne preparation
Squad sessions in Melbourne before departure.
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Dec 26
VECL December
Turf T20 in Melbourne, from 24 December.
Confirmed
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Dec 26
KIOC camp
Eight days in Bengaluru, plus practice fixtures.
To be confirmed
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Jan 27
Australian January
Dowling Shield, Premier Under 18s, representative trials and club cricket. Post-tour reports and individual reviews.
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Jan 27
VECL Chennai season
January to April. Players may join the full season, or only the rounds they are there for.
Proposed
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Mar 27
VECL Melbourne
The March turf tournament.
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Apr 27
KIOC camp
The April return visit — training and a match programme.
To be confirmed
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May–Aug
Winter block
Skill and strength work through the Australian winter.
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Sep 27
KIOC camp
From 2027, a third camp timed to the Victorian September school holidays.
To be confirmed
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Oct–Nov
Try-outs 2027
The second intake is selected.
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Dec 27
VECL December 2027
The Melbourne tournament again — and the cycle repeats.
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Dec 27
KIOC camp
December 2027 — the second full cycle begins.
To be confirmed
Where it can take a player
Built to put players in front of people who make decisions.
What follows is what the programme does. None of it is a promise about what happens next.
Selection and coaching above club level
A player is picked and coached by people outside their own club, across a full season rather than a tournament week.
Coaching by KIOC staff in Bengaluru
Eight days at a time under the academy’s own coaching staff, on their surfaces.
Matches against Indian opposition
Fixtures arranged by KIOC, against sides a player would never otherwise face.
A league that keeps records
Appointed officials, scoring and statistics, so a performance exists as a record afterwards.
A written post-tour assessment
An assessment a player can hand to anyone — a club, a coach, a selector — in their own words rather than ours.
Prepared for the January block
Back into Dowling Shield, Premier Under 18s and representative trials ready, rather than rusty.
Intent, not offer
Beyond Australia and India
Our contacts are established in Australia and in India, and enquiries are open in both directions today. Beyond those two countries we are building relationships with clubs, associations and leagues — that work is under way and nothing is being offered on the back of it yet. We will name a partner here when they have agreed to be named, and not before.
December pathway
Try-outs are the way in.
The squad for the December camp is named on 31 October. The try-out page sets out the dates, the format and what selectors are looking for.