e mërkurë, 2 janar 2008

Does the BCCI give a damn?

Firstly, I want to applaud John Gloster (Indian cricket team's physio) for his report on how the lack of physical conditioning has become a serious issue for the squad. I, for long, have felt that there is way too much cricket being played by our team. Like it or not, the effect this is having on our Men in Blue is there to see, with Zaheer Khan being declared unfit to play in the New Year's test. Just when I thought that the board would finally look at the scene seriously, BCCI's secretary Narenjan Shah's response to the report has made me doubt whether the Board even cares about the players.
Narenjan Shah told news reporters that every team has to face several small injuries, and this is not an important issue at all. Forgive me if I sound disrespectful, but how on Earth does Shah can Shah think he is a better judge of the issue than a trained professional. Look at any top team from any sport, the first priority for all of them is the player's fitness levels. If BCCI feels that their bunch of bruised and battered players are good enough challenge the might of the Aussies, then I'm sorry, I just can't see how India would ever be able to achieve anything. I guess I may as well as stop wasting my time supporting the team. For one we don't have any fringe players to boast of. If these set of players aren't going to be taken care of, then God help us.
To Narenjan Shah, I would like to ask this: where are players such as Lakashmipati Balaji and Ashish Nehra? They both unfortunately faced injuries at crucial points of their careers. If their rehabilitation had been carried out carefully, along with Zaheer Khan's fragile ankle and Munaf Patel's injury woes, today, India's pace department would have had several options. Add to the names given current bowlers like RP Singh, Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan , VRV Singh and a bunch of players from the domestic circuit waiting for their opportunity, we would have a good talent pool to choose from. And, more importantly, the players would be able to fight it out longer and would be less prone to visits to the Doctor. Does an F1 team race with a car whose wing is out of shape because of an accident? No. Does a football team let a player suffering from a minor niggle risk causing him serious damage? No. Does the Indian team field players suffering from shoulder strains? Yes.

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