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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary is set to visit the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru. The CoE is set to complete two years, and the BCCI secretary is likely to meet the head of the CoE, former India cricketer VVS Laxman, to discuss the ongoing injury issues in the India National Cricket Team.
Previously, the CoE was at the heart of the city inside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Later on, it was shifted to Alur, as it was the new BCCI Centre of Excellence (the upgraded National Cricket Academy). It is a 40-acre high-performance facility located near the Kempegowda International Airport. Saikia will mainly visit to check on the rehab issues.
BCCI CoE is a mini hospital
Recently, around 10 Indian cricketers have been present in the BCCI CoE doing their rehab. The likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Sai Sudharsan, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Aakash Deep, Ashok Sharma, and Riyan Parag are currently working on their respective injuries to make a comeback to the international squad.
Jasprit Bumrah and Sai Sudharsan, who were named in the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka starting from August 15th, were ruled out. These two were named subject to fitness, but they failed to regain full fitness in time after their respective knocks. These two names are a big miss for the Men in Blue, especially Bumrah, who has been excellent in red-ball cricket.
Devajit Saikia set for crucial meeting with VVS Laxman
As per the reports from PTI, Devajit Saikia is expected to be in Bengaluru on Sunday, and there has been a crucial meeting scheduled between him and VVS Laxman. However, it is still unknown whether chief selector Ajit Agarkar and head coach Gautam Gambhir will join the meeting online. The latter has been in Sri Lanka with the squad preparing for the Test series.
“Yes, secretary Saikia will be in Bengaluru to take a stock of the situation along with VVS Laxman. There is a meeting scheduled between the two. It is not known whether head coach of national team Gautam Gambhir or chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar will join online or not.”
“It will be interesting if both Saikia and Laxman can front up and answer a few media queries with so many conjectures," a BCCI source in the know told PTI on condition of anonymity.
Why players are getting more injured?
The CoE has been operating without its permanent head of Sports Science. As the previous head, Nitin Patel left the role in March 2025. The sports science team at COE is reportedly doing overtime and lacks a head since Nitin Patel's resignation.
While Nitin Patel was there, he managed some of the best names in Indian cricket, including India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, KL Rahul, and Kuldeep Yadav, to name a few. All made a good comeback to the squad after recovering well under him.
Due to the absence of the head of sports science, there has been a communication gap that has taken place between the sports science team and the selectors, which has resulted in some of the players being released before they were 100% fit and creating issues after being injured playing just a few games.
