Rahul Dravid-led NCA refuses to conduct the fitness test of Jasprit Bumrah

Jasprit Bumrah- India’s premier fast bowler- is currently on a comeback trail after a long injury layoff.  Bumrah had suffered a lower-stress fracture post the Test series against the West Indies. Bumrah, who recently bowled in the nets with the Indian cricket team in Visakhapatnam, was in Bangalore this week to take up the mandatory fitness test at the National Cricket Academy. However, in a major development, the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore has refused to conduct Bumrah’s fitness test.

The team at the NCA- led by director Rahul Dravid and physiotherapist Ashish Kaushik- “politely” told the champion fast bowler that they wouldn’t be able to conduct his fitness test. The Rahul Dravid-led Cricket Academy is ‘unconvinced’ as to how can they conduct a fitness test when Bumrah was consulting his own set of private specialists and had even travelled to England for his treatment and was undergoing recovery under his own set of physios.

Bumrah was recently spotted bowling in the nets in Visakhapatnam and those who saw him closely that the pace bowling spearhead is in peak post his injury. “He’s worked his way back to supreme fitness and is looking very good. Bumrah is like a mountain now. That’s how good he’s looking after the recovery process,” a senior member of the team management was quoted as saying by The Times of India.

Jasprit Bumrah had earlier refused to go to the NCA for his recovery

Rahul Dravid’s logic of refusing to conduct Bumrah’s fitness test is simple. According to Dravid, how can the NCA conduct the fitness test of Bumrah when they have not been involved in his recovery phase and the NCA does not want to take any blame in case an injury happens in the future. 

Dravid has also conveyed the same to Team India’s assistant trainer Yogesh Parmar to not send Indian team trainer Nick Webb to Bangalore for conducting, something which he had requested in the past.

“They have told him, ‘you’re fine. So there’s no need for a fitness test. You should go and seek it from the specialists you’ve been working with because they’re the people who have been testing you and know your fitness status the best,” a source was quoted as saying.

Bumrah had earlier refused to go to the NCA for the recovery process after he was reportedly warned by senior players about ‘scary’ experiences there. Meanwhile, Rahul Dravid is continuing to work towards the betterment of the facilities at the NCA.

“Rahul (Dravid) is still very new to the NCA. It’s only been a few months since he’s taken over. He’s still trying to comprehend how things have been functioning at the academy. To be fair to the NCA, more than 200 cricketers from across the country come there to train and learn. It’s not just about one or two individuals. Rahul is trying to put better systems in place,” a source told TOI.

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