19 June,2009 04:15 PM IST | | PTI
Barely a few days after India's shock exit from the Twenty20 World Cup, the BCCI was left grappling with a fresh controversy when it came to light that many key players, including captain M S Dhoni, were selected in the England-bound squad despite carrying injuries.
The team physio Nitin Patel had cast a doubt at the fitness levels of as many as five key players in his report to the BCCI before the tournament but all of them were included in the squad. According to reports, the physio's report had mentioned that captain Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, R P Singh and Zaheer Khan had injuries which needed treatment.
But despite getting the report before the selection committee meeting, the BCCI decided to select the players in the squad hoping that they would regain full fitness by the time the tournament got underway in England. The BCCI sought to downplay the physio's report and said it was a "routine report" and the injuries sustained by the players were really minor in nature to warrant an omission from the team.
"It is a routine report which is given before every tour to assess the fitness of the players. Too much importance should not be attached to the report", BCCI's Media and Finance Committee Chairman Rajiv Shukla said. "After getting the physio's report, the selectors pick players. Sometimes there are only minor injuries and you can not rule out players for the whole tour," Shukla said.
"Those injuries are supposed to be rectified in three four days so you cannot rule out players for the whole tour. These are routine reports and not much importance should be attached to these," he said.
The physio's report had mentioned that Dhoni had a back injury and paceman R P Singh had a niggle in his ankle. Sehwag, Yuvraj and Zaheer had shoulder niggles. While only Sehwag was withdrawn midway through the high-profile tournament and replaced with wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik, all the other players were retained in the squad.
Interestingly, Dhoni himself had disclosed at a press conference after India's defeat against South Africa in the last Super Eight match that many of his players were not 100 per cent fit. "Sure, very few were 100 per cent fit. Some had ankle, some shoulder injury. That's why they were not in their best in the field. But I am not sure if fatigue is the reason for it. These days you have rehab and can quickly come back to 100 per cent fitness," Dhoni had said after his side's 12-run defeat at the hands of South Africau00a0on Tuesday.
