Vacant top medical post, growing injury list: BCCI CoE has hands full

When V.V.S. Laxman, head of the BCCI’s prestige project, the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru, was asked to attend a media conference on its so-called injury management crisis on Sunday, it was clear that the game’s wealthiest sports body was in firefighting mode. Pushed on the back foot over the ever-growing list of injuries to key players, one of the most respected legends of the game in India provided a sound defence, but questions do remain.

For example, could the cases of Jasprit Bumrah and Sai Sudharsan — who were named in the Test squad against Sri Lanka ‘subject to fitness’, only to be replaced — have been avoided? How does one explain the mystery behind the quadriceps injuries to Hardik Pandya and Washington Sundar as they move from one injury to another? Or, better still, how come the key position of Head of Sports Science and Medicine at the CoE has been lying vacant ever since Nitin Patel stepped down in March 2025?

Shooting down charges of a lack of communication between the CoE, the team managements of both the men’s and women’s teams, and the selection committee, Laxman felt there was ‘brilliant coordination’ between all three parties. The search for Patel’s successor, according to Laxman, has not yet yielded results after Andrew Leipus turned down the offer due to family compulsions.

This is, however, not the first time that the CoE, or the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in its earlier avatar, has had to cop such flak. "The business of blaming the CoE has to stop, as it has been going on for at least the last 20 years. It’s true that the BCCI has pulled out all the stops to equip the centre, but we don’t have a centralised system of fitness and injury management yet," pointed out Ashis Kaushik, a former head physiotherapist at the NCA.

Kaushik, who has now founded his healthcare company, has spent nearly 10 years at the NCA over two phases — enough to know the pulls and pressures within the organisation. Speaking to National Herald from the UK, where his firm will be involved with the upcoming new European T20 League, he was candid enough to admit there were no "readymade solutions" to the problems facing the CoE.

"Despite the BCCI spending a fortune on players’ fitness, there is no centralised monitoring system in place yet. There is one set of physios that a player works with in the national team, another for domestic cricket and yet another — possibly overseas staff — during the IPL. In a high-stakes environment like the IPL, the franchise owners want their key players to be available for most of the competition. Hence, not everyone is often in sync over the treatment of a cricketer fighting injuries," Kaushik said.

It’s been close to one-and-a-half years that the CoE has been operating without a head of sports science and medicine — raising the question of whether it had become a ‘hot seat’ of sorts that is not finding takers despite an attractive package. "After Nitin Patel’s exit, we didn't get anyone," a helpless Laxman explained.

"With Andrew Leipus, a former physio of the Indian team, everything was agreed upon but, at the last minute, he backed off, citing family reasons. We then had a panel comprising Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, Dr Ashish Soni and myself, which shortlisted five candidates. An Australian candidate was our top choice, but he too backed out because he couldn't move to Bangalore. This is a full-time responsibility that needs you to be based here. Periodic monitoring doesn't work. We were in touch with another head of sports science who worked with the All Blacks — he too initially agreed, but backed out at the last moment," Laxman told the media.

Weighing in on the subject, Kaushik said it’s imperative that a "strong candidate" should occupy the chair, as the buck would stop with him. "The BCCI should set him a KRA (key result area) of having 90 per cent of the players fit to play across whichever formats they are required. The chosen candidate could be handed short-term contracts and be held accountable if fitness issues keep recurring," he said.

A recent example of ‘best practice’ was on view when, in IPL 2026, the Big Three of the Australian pace attack — Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood — were contracted players with different franchises, but Cricket Australia kept a strict watch on their fitness and gave the go-ahead to play only at the backend of the tournament. Kaushik, who was in charge of Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2025, chipped in with the example of Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, who was not allowed to bowl in the initial stages.

Laxman perhaps hit the nail on the head when he stressed that the CoE’s role was not merely that of a rehab centre for injured players. The injury management protocol says players must meet certain prescribed benchmarks and complete their return to play (RTP) programmes before receiving the necessary clearance — but those in the know insinuate there could often be a case of different strokes for different folks.

The stop-start availability of someone like Bumrah has really come in for some flak in recent times. Krish Srikkanth, the dashing opener of yesteryears, didn’t mince words a few days back when he said of the pace warhead: "Jasprit Bumrah is a player of Mumbai Indians who sometimes plays for India."

A comment which sounds insensitive, but has a ring of truth around it. Say what?

CoE Rehab Ward

• Jasprit Bumrah — knee swelling: Ruled out entirely

• B. Sai Sudharsan — toe injury: Ruled out entirely

• Washington Sundar — quadriceps issue: Ruled out for 1st Test (Galle)

• Shubman Gill — finger injury during training: Under observation

• Harshit Rana — hamstring strain: Managing recovery

• Nitish Kumar Reddy — hamstring strain: Managing recovery

• Hardik Pandya — quadriceps issue: Under fitness protocol

• Akash Deep — back stress fracture: Ongoing rehabilitation