KKR's Kamlesh Jain in line to become head physio of Indian Cricket Team

Kamlesh Jain, who is currently part of the Kolkata Knight Riders set-up, is likely to become the head physio of the Indian cricket team. According to reports, Jain has managed to impress head coach Rahul Dravid, BCCI secretary Jay Shah, and NCA head VVS Laxman during an interview. The announcement is yet to be made official, despite being orally conveyed to Jain who is from Chennai.

Nitin Patel, the former head physio of the Indian cricket team, was in the position since August 2019 but he took over as head of Sports Science and Sports Medicine at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), Bengaluru which brought about a vacancy for the position. It has to be noted that, Jain has been with the Kolkata Knight Riders since 2012, and has been identified as the successor of Patel.

Kamlesh Jain may assume the role from the upcoming home series against SA

Jain had been an assistant physio at the KKR under Andrew Leipus for seven years until 2020 when he was promoted to the head physio role. He will be helped out by Yogesh Parmar who worked alongside Patel on the Indian side and Jain will join the Indian national side after the ongoing IPL 2022 edition once the official confirmation comes along. With a lot of series scheduled simultaneously for India, there is a need for multiple physios as well for various formats.

India will play South Africa in a five-match T20I series at home from the 9th of June which might be the first assignment for Jain. “We are very happy for him. He is thoroughly deserving of the position,” a KKR official had noted as quoted by Cricbuzz.

KKR’s head coach Brendon McCullum had also revealed that he will be leaving the franchise after the ongoing season having been appointed as the head coach of the England Test side. He will start his role with the upcoming three-match home Test series against New Zealand which starts on the 2nd of June at Lord’s Cricket Ground.