India’s T20 squad had too many injuries

The revelation about five of India's top players being selected in spite of carrying injuries smacks of the Board of Control for Cricket in India's double standards.

India's T20 squad had too many injuries

The revelation about five of India's top players being selected in spite of carrying injuries smacks of the Board of Control for Cricket in India's double standards. On one hand the BCCI big-wigs were quick to make statements that players' who are fatigued are free to sit out and on the other, they picked players carrying injuries for the ICC World Twenty20.u00a0

Indian 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 had mentioned in his report before the team was picked that captain
M S Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, R P Singh and Zaheer Khan had injuries which needed treatment.

The physio's report had mentioned that Dhoni had stress in his lower back and paceman R P Singh had a niggle in his calf while Sehwag, Yuvraj and Zaheer had shoulder worries.

Poor system
The controversy has put a serious question mark on the system used by the BCCI of declaring a player fit.u00a0 The country's top sports medicine expert Dr Ashok Ahuja, who is consultant at National Institute of Sports, Patiala, believes the system of declaring a player fit by examining him in a chamber is dubious. "In my 32 years' experience of dealing with players at the NIS, Patiala, I have seen that they try to hide injuries as they don't want to miss participating in prestigious tournaments. It's natural that all the Indian cricketers would want to play in the ICC World T20 event," Ahuja told MiD DAY yesterday.

"You cannot check the players' fitness by carrying out clinical tests sitting in a chamber. One should do the dynamic clinical evolution where you judge the player's fitness by making them do strenuous activities on the field. They should be seen in a warm-up game and checked while doing activities like batting, bowling or fielding. They should be made to do jumps, dives etc," said Ahuja.

Minor niggles?
The BCCI downplayed the physio's report and said the injuries sustained by the players were minor niggles to warrant an omission from the team. BCCI's Media and Finance Committee Chairman Rajiv Shukla said:

"Sometimes there are only minor injuries and you cannot rule out players for the whole tour."

However, Ahuja said injuries of the joints like shoulder, back or ankle cannot be bracketed in the minor niggles category. "Injuries of the joint are a matter of concern. Muscle strain, muscle cramps, mainly symptoms of fatigue from which one recovers within 24 to 48 hours are generally termed as minor niggles," said Ahuja.

Former BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele blamed the players and the physio for the controversy before reluctantly admitting to a lacuna on the administrators' part. "It is the player concerned who has to be honest about his fitness. Also, the physio should have been absolutely clear whether the player can play or not," said Lele.