BCCI's questionable timeline raises more questions, as Saha prepares for surgery in UK

Saha was not named in the India squad for the first three Tests against England.

Saha featured in IPL 2018 despite being not fully fit | Getty

Wriddhiman Saha, who has been out of action since IPL 2018, will undergo a surgery on his shoulder in Manchester at the end of July or beginning of August, the BCCI confirmed it on Saturday (July 21).

The Board of Control for Cricket in India posted a timeline on its official website which didn’t serve the purpose and instead raised more questions about how Saha’s treatment was allegedly botched up in the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

"Wriddhiman Saha has sustained a posterosuperior labral tear. He will undergo surgery on his shoulder in Manchester at the end of July or the 1st week of August," the board said in a statement.

"The labral repair surgery will be done by Dr. Lennard Funk in Manchester, UK. The entire course of treatment and consultation that was carried out at the NCA was performed in co-ordination with the India Team management and the GM of Operations," the statement further read.

Saha was not named in the 18-man India squad for the first three Tests against England but the cricket board did not disclose the full extent of his fitness problems.

"The entire course of treatment and consultation that was carried out at the NCA (National Cricket Academy) was performed in co-ordination with the India Team management and the GM of Operations," the BCCI said in its defense.

"Saha reported at the NCA on January 29 with left proximal hamstring tendinopathy (pain in the upper left hamstring). Simultaneously he complained of right shoulder pain. Subsequently, an MRI scan was done in February which revealed a Labral tear," it further stated.

The statement clearly suggests that Saha had sustained the shoulder injury in January and the BCCI revealed it in July. The timeline also states that after taking injections and a treatment of close to six weeks, Saha was deemed fit on March 19, just two and half weeks before the IPL 2018.

As per the media release, Saha once again picked up the shoulder injury on May 7 and was subsequently given ultrasound injections. He was rested for five IPL games.

"During this period, on 15th of May, Saha requested to visit the NCA head physiotherapist, Ashish Kaushik, so that he could also review his right shoulder. Ashish assessed his right shoulder and concluded that its presentation was similar to how it had been in late January/early February.

"Ashish informed the Sunrisers Physiotherapist of this who then continued with his course of rehabilitation. The Team India Physiotherapist was informed of this sequence of events."

The next question left unanswered is if Kaushik assessed that Saha's condition was "similar to what it was in January and February" (when he first time sustained labral tear) and how come Sunrisers Hyderabad or the BCCI allowed him to feature in the IPL game on May 25. How did his condition improve so quickly in 10 days if it was similar to the phase in January-February?

"Your guess is as good as mine," a senior BCCI official said when asked by PTI.

According to the timeline, Saha had recovered from his thumb injury on July 2 and the injury got worsened between July 3 and 13. Such was the extent of the injury that steroid injections didn't help.

The timeline also revealed that an appointment was fixed with Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala, orthopedic surgeon at Mumbai's Kokilaben Ambani Hospital, on July 6.

"Pardiwala opined that another steroid injection would assist Saha's recovery. He also stated that should the injury not respond to the injection, then surgery would be necessary. Post the injection, after observation and rehabilitation for five days, when his condition had not improved, he was declared unfit on the 13th of July and the India team management was informed of the same," the BCCI stated.

On Wednesday (July 18), when BCCI announced the squad for first three Tests against England, there was no mention about what exactly was Saha's injury. Interestingly, chief selector, MSK Prasad had gone on record stating that Saha was yet to recover from the thumb injury when it was not the case actually.

(With PTI inputs)

 
 

By Salman Anjum - 22 Jul, 2018

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