India Star Was Overweight At 97kg But Got Picked For England Tour, Communication Gap In BCCI Exposed
Fitness is back in sharp focus in the BCCI corridors. After poor results in England and Ireland, the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) is working on setting a baseline parameter for fitness, according to a report
- BCCI Centre of Excellence is setting a baseline fitness parameter for Indian players after injury breakdowns
- Senior players were given easier fitness targets to meet selection criteria in the past
- Harshit Rana was overweight by 4 kg during England tour, while his prescribed weight is 96kg
Fitness is back in sharp focus in the BCCI corridors. After poor results in England and Ireland, the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) is working on setting a baseline parameter for fitness, according to a report. The increased attention comes at a time when injuries to Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah and other top stars have hampered the Indian team. According to a report in TOI, the BCCI medical team (from the CoE and Indian team) "has struggled to work in sync to assess players' fitness."
After a change in personnel, with Adrian Le Roux replacing Soham Desai as the strength and conditioning coach last year, the Bronco Test was made the primary fitness assessment instead of the Yo-Yo Test. However, it did not have a baseline parameter until now. Going forward, the BCCI medical team has set 5.15-5.20 minutes as the benchmark time to complete the assorted drills and be considered fit enough for selection.
"The Indian players are not used to the Bronco Test. Over the last year, the CoE had set different baseline parameters for players. It has now emerged that certain senior players were given much more comfortable targets to meet in order to clear fitness tests. The CoE staff had also cleared players like Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy to ensure it was delivering players according to the team management's needs," a BCCI source told TOI.
The report added that regular India players were not properly informed about the new fitness drills. It specifically cited the example of Mohammed Siraj, who was "caught off guard" by the sudden fitness tests at the CoE before leaving for Sri Lanka.
Harshit Rana is another case. He was found to be overweight after he suffered cramps during the third T20I against England. He was making a comeback from a knee injury.
"The Indian team management flagged that he was overweight by four kg. The CoE should have been much more vigilant. He has now been told by the CoE staff that his weight cannot exceed 96 kg. He is now 94 kg and is expected to be cleared next week. But he was 97 kg when he was cleared for selection for the Indian team for the UK tour," the source said.
India Cricket Team
England Cricket Team