The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Devajit Saikia revealed that frequent injuries to key players and extended timelines of return to play were discussed in the review meeting on September 3. In the meeting attended by head coach Gautam Gambhir, Centre of Excellence (CoE) head VVS Laxman, ODI & Test captain Shubman Gill, and T20I captain Shreyas Iyer, it was decided that the Future Tour Programme (FTP) for next cycle will be planned in a way players will have enough time to rest. In addition, for tours of SENA (South Africa, Australia, England and New Zealand), the schedule will be finalised in a way that players will have plenty of time to adapt and play practice games as well. The number of matches may be reduced in the next cycle to avoid the number of mounting injuries.
“Players are having injuries because they have to play a lot of matches. If you look at their schedule, in England, we had a 15-player team that went for the ODIs, and out of that, 3 or 4 players got injured. We have to take into consideration that they have played two months of IPL prior to that. So all this takes a toll on the health of the players,” Saikia told the reporters after review meeting.
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“To avoid those kinds of situations under the present FTPs, we are trying to find some ways out. We have a protocol in place for how a player can come back to international matches after injury. We are taking feedback from the captains and head coach to chalk up a proper strategy to avoid these unwanted situations. In the next FTP, we will ensure proper rest for the players, acclimatisation, or some practice matches before any major series in SENA countries.”
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Also, Saikia said that the BCCI’s search for the new Head of Sports Science is still on. In the past, a few candidates have come closer to signing on the dotted line of the contract but backed out at the last minute as revealed by CoE head Laxman. The BCCI hasn’t been able to replace former Head of Sports Science Nitin Patel whose contracted ended last year.
How injuries to key players affected Team India in last few months?
On the England tour, several Indian players were ruled out of the series due to injury including Harshit Rana who had just returned after an injury layoff. Skipper Gill had expressed concerns around the hindrance in planning due to injuries to key players. India lost the ODI series to England Then, India missed the services of Jasprit Bumrah, Washington Sundar and Sai Sudharsan on the Sri Lanka tour. India won the first Test but the second in Colombo ended in a draw affecting their World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 final chances.
Currently, India’s T20I squad against Afghanistan has four players whose participation is subjected to fitness. There is no update on timeline of recovery of Hardik Pandya, Akash Deep, Riyan Parag and a few others.