The Indian cricket team faces an unprecedented injury crisis with several key players undergoing rehabilitation at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE), severely disrupting team balance and squad selections across formats.
Hardik Pandya (quadriceps), Nitish Kumar Reddy (hamstring), Harshit Rana (hamstring) and Varun Chakaravarthy (hamstring) have been out of action for quite a while.
Jasprit Bumrah (knee) and Sai Sudharsan (left foot big toe) were included in India’s Test squad for the Sri Lanka tour subject to fitness clearance, but they couldn’t recover in time.
Among other players, Akash Deep (lower back stress fracture) has been out for the longest time since Bengal's Ranji Trophy semi-final defeat. Washington Sundar (quadriceps) and Prince Yadav (hamstring) are also undergoing fitness assessment and rehabilitation at CoE.
Amid the crisis, a source at the BCCI CoE has raised concerns over players playing through injuries during the Indian Premier League (IPL) due to franchise and financial pressures.
"Too much cricket. The human body has its load limits. Overuse and stress injuries, especially in older players, are unpredictable in terms of return to play. Players play through injuries during IPL due to franchise and financial pressures and then are dumped onto unsuspecting COE physios. The team physios and COE physios are competent and conscientious, and are keeping player safety as their top priority. This, of course, makes it difficult for selectors, coaches, and captains," ANI quoted a CoE source as saying.
The injury concerns have also brought the role of the CoE and its coordination with team management and selectors into spotlight.
On Sunday (August 9), CoE head VVS Laxman spoke to the media alongside BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia and BCCI President Mithun Manhas, addressing the recent injury woes.
Laxman also clarified how the process works, emphasizing that the CoE's fitness assessments are given openly to selectors and team management.
“The process is that the selector reaches out to the COE asking for the fitness status report. And we collect the current fitness status and send a report to the selection committee chairman or chairperson in the women's selection committee, with a copy to obviously the head coach of both the teams and the BCCI,” Laxman told reporters.
“So, Bumrah and Sai Sudharsan were going to be picked for Sri Lanka subject to fitness clearance. And as I told before, you assess them, you move them from one stage to the next stage, and if the progression is slow, you communicate to the selection committee chairman and the head coach, which is happening seamlessly.
“There's transparency in all the fitness reports and also in the selection. At the end of the selection, it's clearly mentioned that these players are picked subject to fitness. It means if they don't clear the fitness test, the selectors will know who the other players are who will go in their place. I mean, it's basic common sense,” he added.
