CHENNAI: It may not be as dramatic as a mid-bowling-stride collapse, but it’s serious news nonetheless.
Even as we keep scratching off days from calendars in wait of the World Cup, and keep calling the upcoming Australia tour of India as the final dress rehearsal for the big-ticket event, Hardik Pandya has been ruled out of the series due to a stiff lower back.
Talks may centre around how that could open the door for Ravindra Jadeja — his replacement — in the England scheme of things, but the pertinent debate taking shape in the fraternity is more about how India need to manage the workload of their only out-and-out pace-bowling all-rounder.
To further emphasise that point, Chinmoy Roy, who has worked as a physical trainer for India A and NCA in the past, connected a few dots to state that the extent of Pandya’s injury may be more than it seems on surface.
“If you noticed, Hardik was bowling well within himself during the New Zealand tour. For a bowler who can hit early 140s, he was in the mid 120s during those matches. Not to mention the fact that the talk-show controversy kept him on the sidelines before that, which could have affected his training after he picked up that back injury in Asia Cup last year.
“So, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that he perhaps flew to New Zealand being a bit undercooked, physically speaking. Those matches, despite him not pushing his body to the limit, may have aggravated his back again. Grade 1 injuries don’t take that much time for treatment. Since he’s been ruled out of the entire series, for all you know, it could be Grade 2 or 3, which take a month or so for full recuperation.”
In terms of keeping Pandya match-fit for the World Cup, the way forward has one big obstacle: IPL. Considering that the 25-year-old has been a bedrock for Mumbai Indians in the event, the team’s strategies for this season’s — which begins on March 23 — 14 matches (excluding the knockouts) are bound to be tailored with him at the centre.
Roy’s elaboration on this may seem tangential, but he does cite a base factor to buttress the need for Pandya’s fitness to be handled with kid gloves: the body itself. “For those who have a frame like Hardik — lean, but one that generates a lot of power — muscle shortening is something they have to deal with on a regular basis. In layman’s terms, that is basically when a muscle tightens up after being put through rigorous use. That in turn tends to affect mobility, and the resultant stiffness also takes more time to heal.”
Even if those IPL matches may see Pandya send down a maximum of four overs and stitch together knocks while facing deliveries in double digits, they could have a cascading effect on his fitness because batting, too, can have an impact on the back.
All these points circle back to a very obvious sub-text, one that Roy himself puts forth clearly. “Hardik picking up an injury at such a juncture is very unfortunate. We all know that there’s no like-for-like replacement for him at the moment. So it is essential that his rehabilitation (Pandya has been flown to National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru) be handled with as much care as possible. It would be nice if he does get some rest during the IPL to help speed that process up, but the final decision for that will obviously be in the hands of his franchise.”