Kedar Jadhav's injury raises questions on competency of Indian support staff

India may have won the Asia Cup 2018 in an absolute nail-biter of a final on Friday, but the growing concerns over player fitness is far from over. The latest addition to the list of injured was Kedar Jadhav who suffered a hamstring strain on the field while batting for India. This incident has brought team physio Patrick Farhart and trainer Shankar Basu under the scanner.

Injuries have become uncomfortable frequent in the Indian team in the last couple of years, with the most recent victims being the likes of Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin and even the Indian skipper Virat Kohli. While the team management has been stressing primarily on the yo-yo test to evaluate players on their fitness, many feel that a more all-encompassing, skill-specific filtering process should be developed.

Not all players happy with the current Indian support staff

As reported by Hindustan Times, a senior BCCI official elucidated on the grim situation and said, “There are a lot of systems that have broken down within the BCCI, but the one that directly impacts the elite athletes is the mess in the structure of the strength and conditioning department of the board. There is no sync between Patrick and Ashish Kaushik (NCA physio) and they are in a way, islands. The treasurer had written a detailed email in this regard a while back and we were hopeful that the mess would be sorted out but that, like many other crucial things, was also swept under the carpet by the present dispensation.”

While Kedar Jadhav suffered from a relapse of the hamstring problem after having gone through a similar injury during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018, Pandya has been suffering from a back injury. Kohli, who’d had to bat with a back problem against England in the final Test of the away series, is reportedly recovering from a wrist injury at the moment.

“The ones who are injured are always uncertain about how to handle things and at times are more comfortable seeking out their IPL physiotherapists when injured. The role of Basu as a trainer is also under heavy scrutiny and though he is considered to be Virat Kohli’s man since he brought him to this role, the players speak in hushed tones and refer to the number of injuries that have occurred out of competition or in training. Quite a few players are not comfortable with him. This mess needs sorting but there is no one competent enough to sort the mess presently as the present dispensation blunders from situation to situation,” added the BCCI official.

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