During the third ODI in the ongoing England tour, the Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar suffered a back injury once again which has raised the big questions on the roles of Indian team physio Patrick Farhart and trainer Shankar Basu. Although BCCI has assured that the injury would be further assessed before taking a call on his participation in the first three Tests against England, the reports of CricketNext suggest that the fast bowler is headed home for rehab at the National Cricket Academy before being considered for the remaining two Tests. The fourth Test against England starts on August 30, which gives Bhuvneshwar sufficient time to prove his fitness and come back rejuvenated.
After receiving another injury in the third ODI at Leeds on Tuesday, where he made a comeback after missing out three consecutive limited-overs matches (one T20I and two ODIs), Kumar has been ruled out from the upcoming first three Tests of the five-match Test series in the English tour.
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Bhuvi’s inclusion in the third ODI has raised questions on the role of Patrick Farhart and trainer Shankar Basu. Both of them have already being questioned for making Yo-Yo the benchmark for national selection, the news of Kumar needing to head back home further worsens the situation.
However, it had also been noted that ahead of the series decider, Indian batting coach Sanjay Bangar had clarified that Bhuvneshwar will only be allowed to play only if he passes the fitness test. While the test results aren’t publicized yet, Kumar played the game and aggravated the back injury. A senior BCCI official has already asked for clarifications from the team management in this regard.
As per some of the reports, one of the BCCI officials said, “Please go and ask Ravi Shastri that question. The moment we are saying he has aggravated his injury, we are conceding that he wasn’t fully fit. So if he is a vital cog in our Test match scheme of things, why was he risked for an ODI. But it seems something is amiss and that’s quite baffling.”
