Table of Contents
BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia has ruled out the possibility of the board stepping in to dictate the bowling workloads of the Indian team's bowlers during the IPL season.
Saikia's comments come amidst an ongoing controversy where several bowlers, who are with the national team, seem to be bowling through injury.
The latest player in this line is the Kolkata Knight Riders spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who is apparently playing through a fractured toe.
Bumrah, Arshdeep, Chakravarthy among those playing through injuries
Varun Chakravarthy had seemingly suffered a hairline fracture on his left toe during KKR's match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 3. In that game, he had been named the Player of the Match.
Varun played through the injury most of the time, but had to miss the game against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru on May 13. Since then, he has been seen limping in and out of the stadium, suggesting that he is, in fact, not fully fine.
A few days ago, the Punjab Kings' Head of Sports Science, Andrew Leipus, said that Arshdeep Singh had some physical restrictions in his body that were causing his inconsistent performances with the ball in the tournament.
Last month, Mumbai Indians Head Coach Mahela Jayawardene revealed that ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah was playing through a slight niggle that he had picked up in the T20 World Cup.
Jayawardene's comments came after Bumrah had gone wicketless in the first five games of the season.
"BCCI cannot micro-manage the players" - Saikia
In a chat with TOI, BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia said that the board could not always run interference in these matters. He said that while the Board managed things in the CoE, they could not force the franchises' hands.
"We can't interfere in the functioning of the franchises by trying to control player workload and fitness in the IPL," he said. Saikia clarified the protocol and said that during the IPL, the franchises are in charge of the players and not the board, even though the Centre of Excellence (CoE) does monitor centrally contracted players.
"There is monitoring, but we cannot interfere much during the IPL," said Saikia. But Saikia reassured reporters that as far as the national team is concerned, the BCCI has a much greater degree of control and keeps the players' fitness in mind when selecting them for the country.
"We are giving franchises the freedom to take decisions on their players. However, fitness remains a key criterion when it comes to national selection," Saikia added.
BCCI announces India squad for Afghanistan series
On Tuesday, the BCCI announced the Indian squads for the one-off Test and the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan.
Even in these squads, a greater emphasis has been placed on fitness. Ravindra Jadeja has missed a couple of matches for RR in IPL 2026 and was rested from these squads because of it.
Mohammed Shami was ignored for these squads as well, since the selectors weren't convinced that he was fit for bowling more than four overs in a day.
Both Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya have struggled with injuries in IPL 2026, but have been selected in the ODI squad subject to fitness.
