NCA Under Scanner Again After Bhuvneshwar Kumar's Injury While Bumrah, Hardik Had Refused To Go There
Published - 14 Dec 2019, 06:43 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:02 AM
The National Cricket Academy (NCA) is once again in the news for all the wrong reasons. In the wake of Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s latest injury setback, fingers are being pointed at the NCA and understandably so. In the last couple of years, the body has faced criticism for the way it has handled injury of India stars. Last year, they made a mess of Wriddhiman Saha’s injury.
The wicketkeeper-batsman was initially ruled out of action after IPL due to a finger injury. However, later it was revealed that he was carrying a shoulder injury since the Centurion Test in January. The Bengal star thus played the entire IPL as well as other games with a shoulder injury even though he had reported to the NCA in Bengaluru for the rehabilitation process. Saha later missed the entire year and made a comeback to the Indian team in August this year.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s injury opens Pandora’s Box:
Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s latest injury has put the focus on NCA again. The India star has been diagnosed with a sports hernia and has been ruled out of the upcoming ODI series against West Indies. The development comes just days after he was given the green light by the NCA over his fitness. According to IANS, it has now come to the fore that Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah had refused to undergo rehabilitation at the NCA post injury.
While the players were needed to report to the NCA for rehabilitation according to the protocol, both decided against it. Their decision pretty much makes it clear that things are just not right at the body even after former India captain Rahul Dravid taking over as its director.
“Both Pandya and Bumrah made it clear to the team management that they wouldn’t wish to go to the academy for rehabilitation and that is why while Yogesh Parmar kept an eye on Pandya, Nitin Patel studied every process that Bumrah followed during the rehab. Yes, they are contracted players and they should have been at the NCA, but the stakes are high and for a sportsperson injuries are a serious matter. So, beyond a point you have to allow them to take a call that they are comfortable with,” the board functionary revealed.
As per the report, Bumrah and Pandya underwent training under Delhi Capitals trainer Rajnikanth Sivagnanam rather than heading to the NCA. Rajnikanth was in the race for the post of India trainer and was beaten to the post by Webb.
Talking about Bhuvneshwar, he was at the NCA after the tour of West Indies. The pacer missed the series against South Africa and Bangladesh before returning to the team for the T20I series against West Indies. And although he played in all the three games of the series, he reported a pain after landing in Chennai on Thursday. Bhuvneshwar has been replaced by Shardul Thakur in the ODI squad for the upcoming series against West Indies.
