'Rahul Dravid must take responsibility for all mishandlings at the NCA' - BCCI official after Ishant Sharma's re-injury

The Indian cricket team has been suffering from quite a few injury issues in the past few months. From Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s recurring injuries to Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah getting sidelined to now Ishant Sharma’s injury getting resurfacing post the first Test at the Basin Reserve in Wellington, the injury list keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Ishant Sharma had suffered an injury during the Ranji Trophy fixture back in January. The fast bowler passed a late-minute fitness test in the lead-up to the Test series and joined the Indian team at the 11th hour. Sharma’s bowling was one of the few good things that happened to India in Wellington but the injury rebounded to post the first Test, to once again bring the role of National Cricket Academy into question.

And, now of the board officials have asserted that NCA chief and former Indian captain Rahul Dravid must take some responsibility around what is going on with the academy.

“It would be interesting to see what are the changes in the scan reports when he was declared fit and the ones taken now. Look, Dravid is one of the most respected players we have but the administration is objective and ruthless. While one would think it blasphemous to be critical of his coaching or mentoring decisions, the decisions relating to administration will definitely be scrutinized and criticized, especially when they concern the handling of one of our most precious assets that are Ishant” the official said as quoted by IndiaToday.

“Since Rahul is apparently the primary decision-maker at the NCA, it would therefore only be natural that he should take responsibility for the processes and decisions,” he added.

Rahul Dravid-led NCA under scanner after Ishant’s injury rebounds

The official also questioned the continuous backing of head physio Ashish Kaushik. “Given the magnitude of backing that Dravid has lent to Kaushik, it is time for him to stand up and take responsibility for the blunders at the NCA. Maybe it would be better to hire an objective and neutral person as a Physio. Dravid that there are new office bearers who are responsible to the General Body and things have changed over the past year,” he explained.

A BCCI functionary also asserted that the NCA, who had earlier declined to test Jasprit Bumrah’s fitness after he had approached elsewhere for his rehabilitation, meant nothing as the premier fast bowler has come back fully-fit, unlike the case with Ishant.

“Does the fitness test really mean anything anymore? Bumrah wasn’t administered a fitness test and has been playing without any problems and Ishant who had been cleared is injured again” the functionary said.

“I find it somewhat shocking that the NCA did not conduct a fitness test of Bumrah and this raises the larger question as to whether a fitness test is mandatory for someone returning from injury or no,” he added.

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