BENGALURU: Amidst criticism from all corners, with multiple India players getting injured and suffering recurring injuries, BCCI Centre of Excellence head VVS Laxman has said that the facility is not merely a rehab centre and has bigger roles to play.
Laxman, addressing a group of reporters at the facility on Sunday, gave a lowdown on what the state-of-the-art facility, spread over 40 acres on the outskirts of Bengaluru, has achieved in the last two years and why it is more than just taking care of the rehab of injured cricketers. "CoE is not merely a rehab centre. There are bigger roles to play for it in helping cricketers achieve excellence," Laxman said.
This comment comes at a time when the CoE has come under the scanner for multiple injuries and players missing matches, as seen during the England series. From Jasprit Bumrah to B Sai Sudharsan to Harshit Rana, Nitish K Reddy and others, the list of injured contracted players is becoming longer over the last few weeks.
It is at this time that the BCCI office bearers, including president Mithun Manhas, secretary Devajit Saikia, treasurer Raghuram Bhatt, and joint secretary Prabhtej Singh Bhatia, had arrived in the CoE, met with Laxman to discuss the issue and address the concerns brewing outside.
One of the questions put forth in front of both Laxman and Saikia was whether it would be better to wait till an injured player gets fit before naming them in the squad. This comes after Bumrah and Sai Sudharsan were ruled out of the upcoming Sri Lanka tour after initially being named in the squad.
Laxman said that the coordination between CoE, head coach Gautam Gambhir, and chief selector Ajit Agarkar is brilliant. "Now, you're talking about Bumrah and Sai Sudarshan. When we send a fitness status report, the process is that the selector reaches out to the COE asking for the fitness report. We collect the correct fitness status and send a fitness status report to the selection committee chairman or chairperson in the women's selection committee, with a copy to obviously the head coach of both the teams and the BCCI," Laxman said. "(With) Bumrah and Sai Sudarshan, there's always an asterisk, and this is one thing which you all will know. That when the media release comes from the BCCI, there's an asterisk attached to a player selection. And what does that asterisk mean? It means subject to fitness. So Bumrah and Sai Sudarshan were going to be picked to Sri Lanka subject to fitness clearance. You assess them, you move them from one stage to the next stage and if the progression is slow, you communicate to the selection committee chairman and the head coach, which is happening, seamlessly.
"They understand that they're not yet ready to participate in an international series. It's player-centric and team-centric. So that communication is happening seamlessly," he added.
BCCI secretary Saikia added, saying that the squad is picked weeks ahead and that sometimes allows them to name the players if they get fit in time. "Three weeks or four weezks before, we do not know the exact status of the player. Therefore, that asterisk subject to fitness is given because that particular player is under a programme of rehabilitation. If he gets picked within that period of 21 days or 28 days, he will be taken into the team. So that is precisely why we do not outrightly reject him on the date of selection. But by the time it will be effectively required for travel or to play the match, by that time he may be totally picked. It is a human body. It is not a machine. So he may take 14 days, or he may take 28 days, subject to his own body composition," the secretary added.
