BENGALURU: Even two days out from the Garden City’s final World Cup match, the tree-lined Cubbon Road had been gearing up to welcome the hosts. Knockoff jerseys of Virat Kohli hung from trees. Dozens of fans patiently waited outside the main entrance of the M Chinnaswamy Stadium to catch a glimpse of the 15 men who had been training at the facility for the last 3-4 days. The match itself may be largely academic -- first plays last with no jeopardy on the line -- but try and tell that to this passionate crowd.
Some of them had also parked themselves outside Gate 21. You can make a case for saying Gate 21 is perhaps the entrance to the inner sanctum of the sport in the country. The National Cricket Academy (NCA) is housed there. Tucked away in a corner of the Stadium, its nondescriptness is only matched by the enthusiasm by which the security guard waves away journalists when they approach the structure from within the premises. “Nothing to see here, go back,” one of them informed two scribes on Friday.
Of course, that’s not really true. Till a few weeks ago, Rishabh Pant was using the facility for training and rehabilitation post the car accident last December (he’s now in Kolkata). After Hardik Pandya’s ankle injury during the Bangladesh game, he was flown to the NCA to see if they could get him back up and ready for the knockouts.
Zoom out a touch and its importance becomes more apparent. Out of the World Cup 15, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer had all received treatment at the facility before coming back to the squad over the last few months. It’s impressive that all three of Bumrah, Iyer and Rahul have managed to hit the ground running. Usually, when athletes come back from long injuries, there’s a bit of a lead time. Teams may prefer to reintegrate them slowly to guard against a reaction.
That’s not been the case with these three. They have played non-stop for well over the last 45 days and have contributed significantly to the team’s eight-match winning run at the World Cup. Adding a level of curiosity to the whole thing is that the NCA has not always been in the good books. Remember in the beginning of the year when Bumrah, pencilled in to appear in the series against Sri Lanka, had pulled out?
In April, Ravi Shastri, somebody who had been involved with the NCA earlier, spoke about it. While he didn’t name any bowler by name, his sarcastic tone was hard to miss. “There are quite a few in the last three or four years who are permanent residents of the NCA,” he had told Cricinfo. “Soon, they’ll get a resident permit there to walk in any time they want, which is not a good thing at all. It’s unreal. If you are going to come back and then three matches (later), you’re back there... make sure you get fit and come once and for all because it’s frustrating.”
So, what changed between then and now? Coach Rahul Dravid, who knows the facility like the back of his hand, said it was down to luck. He used the word six times when he spoke about how the injured players came back at the right time. “Obviously, a lot of thought and planning has gone into it,” he said during the pre-match press conference. “There’s a combination of things... you need a little bit of luck as well. It’s been great for us to have those guys back fit and ready for this tournament.”
Because of the long-term nature of the injuries, the management had kept contingency plans in mind. These plans included not picking Bumrah, Iyer or Rahul if push came to shove. “Our margins were tight, our lines were tight,” Dravid said. “We knew that some of them would be coming in just at the Asia Cup and prior to this tournament. So, we had to make some contingency plans. We looked at other stuff. But the fact that they were able to come into this tournament is a tribute to their own efforts and hard work, the efforts of the NCA, the physios, the trainers at the NCA for ensuring that, we stuck to those timelines and managed to hit those timelines as soon as we could.“Sometimes they go this way, sometimes they go that way, knowing that three weeks here, four weeks here, and you can lose a player.”
He also touched upon the harsh realities of what a comeback entails when a professional athlete breaks down. “I think credit to the guys... I think even the NCA for all the work that they do. A lot of the stuff is behind the scenes. People don’t get to see it, it’s not easy. Sometimes people think, ‘oh, it’s easy to get injured players playing’. Again, it’s not that simple. Getting back to professional sport is not easy. So well done to everyone so far.”
It was a sentiment shared by Rahul before he left for Sri Lanka for the Asia Cup. “Reflecting on my journey in the last few months, which has been filled with challenges and lessons. The road has been humbling. A big shoutout to Nitin sir, Rajini sir, Dhananjay bhai, Shalini and everyone at the NCA for your efforts and commitment towards getting me back on the ground,” he had posted on X. The wicket-keeper, who lends India that balance they crave, also credited the facility for his work behind the stumps.
“The medical team at the NCA felt, with the kind of injury I had, the difficult part would be wicket-keeping more than batting,” he had said before the England game at Lucknow. “The things that I have worked much harder on are my fitness and wicket-keeping.”The hard yards behind the scenes are bearing fruit now. And some of those people, who lined up outside Gate 21 on Friday afternoon, will be witness to it inside the Stadium on Sunday.