World Cup less than a year away, injury concerns soar
With more players joining the list, doubts cast on BCCI’s injury management
NEW DELHI: Six names stood common in India’s Test squad in England and the one named for the Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates. Two of those — Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur — are out of the continental event after playing a match each.
From playing in balmy conditions till September 11, the duo had to acclimatise to the 40-plus temperatures of Dubai in less than a week, with humidity adding to the challenge. While Pandya “suffered an acute lowerback spasm”, bowling against Pakistan on Wednesday, Thakur “experienced right hip and groin soreness after the game against Hong Kong” on Tuesday, according to a BCCI statement.
Pandya and Thakur, along with Axar Patel, became the latest to join the list of Indian cricketers in recent times to get injured while a series was on. Deepak Chahar, Ravindra Jadeja and Siddarth Kaul have been called in as replacements.
The injuries to the trio are not an aberration. During the England tour, R Ashwin missed the fifth Test with a groin injury, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar suffered a lower-back injury during the third ODI in July and missed the Test series. Jasprit Bumrah also missed the T20I and ODI series in England, as he suffered a left thumb injury while fielding in the first T20I against Ireland in Dublin in June. Even Virat Kohli, who was rested for the Asia Cup, had a back-injury scare during the second Test at Lord’s.
CRAMPED SCHEDULE
The rising rate of injuries among top Indian cricketers comes as a bad advertisement for a team that claims to rate fitness above everything else. The Indian side’s cramped schedule has only added to the challenge.
Even after the Asia Cup, the ordeal will not end for the Indian team that has been on the road since June, starting with a T20 series in Ireland. If they reach the continental event’s final on September 28, they will have only five days before the two-Test series against West Indies starts on October 4. After the Windies series ends with a T20 on November 11, India go on the Australia tour, starting with an ODI on November 21.
In such a scenario, workload management becomes crucial with the 2019 World Cup less than a year away. “We (selectors and Virat Kohli) sat for a discussion regarding workload management during the Test series in England. We need to preserve some players who are playing all three formats. We have started with Virat. Other all-format players will also be rested in due course,” MSK Prasad, chairman of selectors, had said ahead of the Asia Cup.
Though the BCCI maintains a player management system to keep a watch on the workload, it’s the team management, both in national and IPL sides, which decides on the inclusion of the players in the side.
Wriddhiman Saha’s case underlines the confusion in this case. The wicketkeeper sat out of the one-off Afghanistan Test in June and the England tour due to a shoulder injury. According to the BCCI, the 33-year-old had recovered from an older shoulder injury in March. He went on to play the IPL for Sunrisers Hyderabad, where he again “complained of pain and stiffness in the shoulder” on May 8, according to a BCCI statement. The same day he was named in the squad for the Afghanistan Test by the governing body.
Saha under rehabilitation, upon consultation with National Cricket Academy (NCA) head physiotherapist Ashish Kaushik, could not play an IPL match until May 25. Again in that match against Kolkata Knight Riders, he suffered a fractured right thumb which ruled him out of the Afghanistan Test. Later, a scan at the NCA on July 4 revealed that Saha’s shoulder injury had aggravated.
The confusion over the injury management and rehabilitation in Saha’s case, points to the fine line that other Indian cricketers are walking on.