- Avid cricket fans following the Indian team over the past few months would be concerned about the spate of injuries being reported as one player after the other joins the unwanted list. Note that the players are on the road for almost five months now starting from the Indian Premier League culminating in the fourth Test match at the Gabba, Brisbane. Indian cricket contingent resembles more like an infirmary rather than battle-hardened professional players ready to take on the world. Despite challenges, the quality of cricket dished out in the ongoing Test matches are nothing short of spectacular thoroughly engrossing in content as well as intent on display.
PC: austadiums
- As the series is tantalizingly poised with both teams leveled at 1-1 going into the last Test, the Indian cricket team would be sweating copiously in finalizing the playing eleven before the commencement on 15th January 2021. What started with Mohammad Shami sustaining a wrist fracture in the first Test continues unabated with a slew of players following him closely behind. Pace spearhead Umesh Yadav sustained a calf injury, KL Rahul was ruled out because of wrist sprain, star all-rounder and indispensable Ravindra Jadeja has a dislocated thumb, batsman Hanuma Vihari has a torn hamstring, prodigal batsman-wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant has a bruised elbow.
- Adding on to the list is the news emerging that pace talisman Jasprit Bumrah is out of the fourth Test with an abdominal strain, the savior of the last Test match Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is struggling with back spasms and is reported to be on painkillers. Dropped batsman Mayank Agarwal is awaiting scan results for an injury on his arm, dependable batsman Cheteshwar Pujara continues to play with a finger injury and is on painkillers as well. One will be left befuddled and confused how the Team management would be coping to field reasonably fit eleven for the ensuing series decider in the next two days.
PC: Scroll Staff
- It is not out of place to ponder over why such a spate of injuries are being reported in quick succession. Is it because of the non-stop cricket played over the last few months? Is it because of the lack of quality recovery time to ensure the bruised and battered body receives enough rest for the next battle? Is it because the fitness levels of the players have gone down and not up to the expected standards befitting an international player? Is it not wise to investigate the unwelcoming role of stringent and suffocating bio-bubble protocol squeezing the players’ comforts no end? Questions galore but hard to find acceptable answers.
- Ask any player or expert from the sports field, injury management along with fitness regimen plays an extremely important role in keeping the professional outfit battle-ready. Looks like the combination of all the above mentioned has had a definite part in rendering the injured players unavailable. Hopefully, Team India will field a fighting eleven and emerge victorious to create an amazing turnaround in the final Test match. History beckons go for it Team India!
