Indian cricketers, especially the pacers, are struggling with injuries lately and quite a few of them spent most of the last year at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.

Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah picked up a stress fracture on his lower back prior to the Asia Cup last year. On his return in the home T20Is against Australia, Bumrah went down again with the same injury, which ruled him out of the T20 World Cup 2022 and he is yet to regain complete fitness.

Besides Bumrah, the likes of Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammad Shami have had extended rehabilitation at the NCA for their respective injuries.

The worst of the lot is Deepak Chahar, who pulled his hamstring three times in 2022 and the CSK suffered a recurring injury after bowling five balls in his opening over against MI last Saturday (April 8).

Speaking about Chahar and his injury woes, former India head coach Ravi Shastri questioned what's the point of going to the NCA if the injuries kept recurring.

“In the last three-four years, there are quite a few who are permanent residents of the NCA. Soon they will get a resident permit there too. It’s not a good thing at all. It’s unreal. You are not playing that much cricket to be injured again and again. You can’t play 4 matches on the trot. What are you going to the NCA for?” said Shastri on ESPNcricinfo.

Shastri finds it ridiculous that the injuries are happening even though players are not playing enough games to get injured.

“If you are going to come back and in three matches you are back there. Make sure you get fit and come once and for all, because it’s damn frustrating not just for the team, the players, the BCCI, the captains of the various franchises. I can understand a serious injury but every fourth game when someone touches his hamstring or someone touches his groin, you start to think what are these guys training for. Some of them don’t play any other cricket. It’s ridiculous,” he added.