When it comes to injury management and rehabilitation, the National Cricket Academy (NCA) has often been criticized in recent times. Last year they were blamed for mismanaging the injuries of Wriddhiman Saha and Bhuvneshwar, and now Ishant Sharma’s break down after the first Test against New Zealand has made things from bad to worse.
However, the BCCI official reckons that the NCA head Rahul Dravid must take responsibility for all actions in and around the academy. As per the quotes in IANS, a BCCI official said that the injury to Ishant has raised a lot of questions on the credibility of NCA and he also said that as a leader Dravid must stand up and put a stop to this.
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The BCCI official said, “It would be interesting to see what are the changes in the scan reports when he was declared fit and the ones taken now. 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. 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.”
The BCCI official also stated that the Ishant episode once again showed that the fitness test at the NCA is quite questionable. Ishant had famously thanked NCA head physio Kaushik after clearing the fitness test.
The BCCI official added, “Ishant complained of ankle pain soon after bowling a few deliveries as part of his warm-up routine on Friday during India’s optional training session at the Hagley Oval. The BCCI medical assessed him on the spot and he was taken for scans soon after. Once the scan results arrived later in the evening, Ishant was deemed unfit to take part in the second Test.”
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Ishant had suffered a Grade 3 tear on his right ankle while playing in Ranji Trophy for Delhi in their Ranji Trophy encounter against Vidarbha at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. A day after the reports came in, the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) had clearly said that the fast bowler was all but out of the Test series against New Zealand as he had been asked to rest his leg for six weeks.
