NCA Rehab Under Scanner After Shardul Thakur Bowls Just Ten Balls On His Test Debut

The National Cricket Academy (NCA) is under scanner after Shardul Thakur managed to bowl just 10 balls on his debut before walking off the field.

The National Cricket Academy is once again in the firing line due to the recurrence of Shardul Thakur’s groin injury in the second Test against West Indies. The right-arm pacer had sustained the injury during the Asia Cup in Dubai last month. Consequently, he had to pull out of the competition to undergo a rehabilitation process at the NCA. However, it seems the rehabilitation process was not a complete success as Thakur’s Test debut turned into a nightmare.

Bowling just his second over on Test debut, Thakur finished his run-up with a grimace. He was soon attended by physio Patrick Farhart. The 26-year old did not receive any treatment early on as he and Farhart were seen talking before being joined by skipper Virat Kohli. Thakur soon headed towards the dressing room and did not return thereafter.

The latest injury will be yet another setback for Thakur after the Asia Cup disappointment where he had to bail out midway after complaining of a right hip-groin soreness.

But just 10 days later, he represented Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. That was the first time, the NCA came under the spotlight as many questioned how come he got the clearance from NCA.

And the recurrence of the injury in back-to-back international games has now landed the NCA in hot waters.

“Groin injury is a fitness related injury and not an on-field one. My question is how did Shardul get a fitness certificate within 10 days of complaining groin soreness and then it recurs within another fortnight. Strange,” a BCCI official told PTI on Friday.

The official also raised questions about NCA’s senior staff’s role in this injury fiasco.

“COO Tufan Ghosh and Ashish Kaushik, who looks after the rehab of these contracted India players should answer. What sort of a clearance did he get? We hear big things about workload management but a bowler short throws other bowlers workload into a tizzy. If I am not wrong, one of the senior office bearers (treasurer Aniruddh Chaudhry) wrote about NCA’s functioning to the CoA but there wasn’t any reply. So this NCA mess lands at CoA’s doorstep,” the veteran official said.

Meanwhile, the BCCI has stated that it would take a final call on Thakur only after the scan result comes out.