Injury watch for Indian Test and ODI players

[Chandan]

With the current going IPL, two of the main Indian players are already injured, Dhoni (bruised arm) and Gambhir (hamstring). But it further took a beating when Laxman took a hit flush on his forearm and was ruled out for next game. We can only hope that injury is serious. Even if next test or ODI series are sometime away, India's next assignment is just 4 days after the IPL ends. What will be the condition then? But selectors aren't worried/ Selectors are cool Saturday , March 20 , 2010 LOKENDRA PRATAP SAHI Dhoni (above) and Gambhir Ahmedabad: The national selectors are, as of now, not worried about injuries to key players Mahendra Singh Dhoni (also the India captain) and Gautam Gambhir. “There’s no reason to get alarmed about Dhoni... Fortunately, he didn’t break his (right) arm... Gambhir has a hamstring injury, which shouldn’t keep him out for long,” one of the five selectors told The Telegraph on Friday. While Dhoni (captaining the Chennai Super Kings) got hit by the Kolkata Knight Riders’ Shane Bond, on Tuesday, Gambhir, the Delhi DareDevils’ captain, injured himself a day later, in the match against the Mumbai Indians. Ashish Nehra, too, has a fitness issue. The selectors, though, aren’t clear about the nature of his injury. The selectors will begin to worry if one of the big names is ruled out for long — the World T20 squad, after all, has to be picked next Friday. Meanwhile, Saurabh Tiwary’s handsome run in the ongoing IPL won’t be rewarded in the very near future as the Jharkhand batsman, turning out for the Mumbai Indians, doesn’t feature among the 30 India probables. The squad must be chosen from within that pool. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Apart from all this, Yuvraj certainly isn't even 70% fit, One day bowler Nehra hasn't even appeared in any match after the 2nd ODI vs SA, back-up player Nayar is still injured and Irfan Pathan who is coming back from injury is not even in the probables for T20 WI ! So what will be India's situation after IPL? T20 WC probables: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik, M S Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, S Sreesanth, Sudeep Tyagi, Rohit Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Ishant Sharma, Abhishek Nayar, Wriddhiman Saha, Naman Ojha, Piyush Chawla, Abhimanyu Mithun, Manish Pandey, R P Singh, Munaf Patel, M Vijay, Vinay Kumar, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin Players in bold already have questionmarks over their fitness for the ICC tournament. Above that, Irfan is not even in the squad!

[The Outsider]

Oh, but it's near heretical to question the role IPL plays in all this. Do it and be branded anti Indian and anti development, for IPL is supposed to be a shining light of India shining. Players are flying all over the country every second or third day for 6 weeks - trying to play high quality cricket in between. But try to question the common sense behind it all, and be prepared to be shouted down as stuck in the past and not moving along with the modern ways of cricket. Wait for people to harangue you down with arguments about how such things could have happened in the nets as well as while crossing the road. And is it supposed to get any better from next year? I don't really think so. Just picture the IPL next year - a few days after the long drawn out World Cup, where the fun action starts in the knock out stage after 40+ league matches to eliminate the minnows, we will have 90+ matches of the IPL in the April-May heat of India! Players need quality time off to recuperate from the demanding schedules and don't get any, making them so injury prone. If you are a fast bowler and told that you will have to bowl for 20+ matches in the Indian heat next year within a space of two months, would you relish the prospect of doing so?

[Chandan]

I think players need to look after themselves. If they are running after money, they should be prepared to give up of any ambition of performing well at the international level. And test players as well as ODI players should have a right to choose. At the moment, I think all the contracted players are arm twisted to play. And frankly speaking, I don't see how overdose of T20 can survive, as it is too one dimensional to keep the interest alive for so many matches after say 5 years. What will these money hungry players do then, as they'd have missed a bus to get their name in record books of international cricket?

[The Outsider]

I don't know about your prediction of the overdose of T20 not able to survive - I think it will survive and prosper. The hundreds of millions that the franchises have put up in the IPL is huge amount of money even by the standards of some well established leagues in other sports and countries. There is no way that they are going to let go of any strategy to get a return on their investments. Moreover, there is a genuine demand for T20. ICF, by definition, is a place of Indian cricket followers who are more interested in the sport than your aam aadmi, and even here T20 is very very popular. No reason why it would not be able to sustain the popularity over the next few years. The Indian star players really have no choice - whether one admits to it or not, there are external pressures on them to play in the league. Will Tendulkar opt himself out of the auction for next year? Highly unlikely, though he does not play international T20 and will probably retire even from ODIs after next year's World Cup. Players not representing us in ODIs like Dravid and Laxman, playing in IPL is fine. It is the likes of Dhoni, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Sehwag, Tendulkar, Ishant, Sreesanth who are getting the most roughed up. Last year we lost Yuvraj, Sehwag, and Zaheer for a substantial part of our international calender. Then there are the foreign players - most play only for part of the league due to international commitments, which is again fine for them. They come here for 2-3 weeks and rake in the money and soak up the excitement. Of the countries that play for the entire duration, only South Africa have a hectic calender - though not as much as India, as they don't play as many masala triangular series in Malaysia and Chad. At the end of the day the biggest losers out of the entire league are Indian cricket's international stars and it will remain that way till a Sehwag, Dhoni, or Tendulkar can step up and say that their body cannot take the toll of playing the entire season. I doubt their owners will listen to them though and if they have the power to make such decisions in this corporate gang bang.

[Chandan]

Shwetabh, What will the league owners do when the aura of T20 will fade due to overdose? At the most, they can include few more bollywood tamasha to attract people; but in the end, the game has to attract fans to survive. And you think this one dimensional game will survive that overdose onslaught? It'll certainly wear out after few years with 90+ games in 6-7 weeks. And it is certainly hurting Indian cricket as the coming year of WC result will show. 1.Dhoni 2.Gambhir 3.Nehra These 3 members of any final XI are already injured. Yuvraj is certainly not getting fitter, playing with an injury. Wonder how much energy will be left in Zaheer and Bhajji till WC starts. India is certainly not qualifying even for the 2nd stage. If this is what IPL intends to do, then all the best to its fans who rate states above the country.

[The Outsider]

I don't think any such thing as an overdose exists. Most cities in which these leagues are based are burgeoning economies with people having a lot of disposable income. The timing of the league is in the evenings after school and college exam season is over. It's a 4 hour evening entertainment package, something which can be done either in the stadium or with a few friends in a bar, or with your family over a dinner. IPL's success is not based on the hard core cricket fan with a strong interest or knowledge of the game. I don't see that changing. It's going to become or already has become more in line with the NBA or NFL in America, where the average follower is definitely not going to watch or be interested in all the matches, but you will have enough mass support for the idea to ensure a good viewership and popularity of all the matches. Hardly anyone I know here would watch all NBA or NFL matches, mainly just their team's and just update themselves with other scores. That kind of market is very likely to succeed in India. I am not sure how franchises like Cochin and Rajasthan are going to sustain that kind of popularity but certainly the likes of Bangalore, Delhi etc. won't have any problems. We might see an amalgamation or moving of franchises in the future at the very extreme, but the idea is here to stay IMO.

[vvvslaxman]

Yuvraj is certainly not getting fitter' date=' .[/quote'] He is getting fatter though.

[fineleg]

IPL is a piece-of-**** tournament. I hope it disappears in few yrs, though money-strewn will prolly keep it alive

[Sooda]

Itll be pretty boring with more teams next year, leaving aside potential injury chances. Maybe the Board could compensate players and teams monetarily and give them pretty much no choice but to sit out a percentage of matches.

[Chandan]

MSD and Gambhir are yet to join their respective squad, even when Gambhir is back from SL after receiving the ayurvedic treatment and MSD had a rigourous net session at Mumbai. Gambhir, Nehra meet Rajapaksa; thank him for treatment A fit-again Indian opener Gautam Gambhir and fast bowler Ashish Nehra met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and thanked him for facilitating their quick treatment at the hands of a reputed ayurvedic physician of the island nation. The Delhi Daredevils players met Rajapaksa at his residence yesterday prior to their departure for India after recovering from their injuries sustained during the ongoing Indian Premier League. Gambhir and Nehra were treated by Eliyantha White on Rajapaksa's request. "Gambhir and Nehra thanked President Rajapaksa and Dr. White for their speedy recovery," a release from the Presidential Secretariat said. "The two players also thanked Sri Lankan cricketer Tillakaratne Dilshan, who is now playing in the IPL, for recommending treatment in Sri Lanka and making arrangements for it through the President," it said. Gambhir suffered a hamstring injury during Daredevil's first home game against Mumbai Indians, while Nehra has been suffering from a rib injury he picked up during training in Mohali before the team's first IPL game. Incidentally, star Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar has also been successfully treated for a sports injury by Dr. White at the request of Rajapaksa. --------------------------------------- Fleming still uncertain of Dhoni return Thursday , Mar 25, 2010 Mumbai: MS Dhoni might have joined the Chennai Super Kings squad at nets on Wednesday ahead of the team’s clash with Mumbai Indians, but coach Stephen Fleming said that there were outside factors determining whether the Indian skipper would be able to take field. “We are analysing his complete fitness and there are also responsibilities to Indian cricket. There are a lot of interested parties. So, we have to be cautious about his return, but we are optimistic,” he said. Dhoni had injured his right elbow after being hit by a Shane Bond delivery during the match against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens and was ruled out of three subsequent matches. Fleming agreed it would be a major boost to the team if Dhoni did return. “He’s been training, so it looks good. But we’ll only take a call on his fitness tomorrow. We have to see how his arm reacts. We are happy at this stage but we will be cautious,” the former New Zealand captain said. “It would be a psychological boost to have the skipper back, just good for the team morale. And it’s great to have him around,” he said. ---------------------------------------- Nehra is another guy who is injured. Among the test players, it is Laxman who is injured and hasn't come back till now.

[thevortex]

Shwetabh - there is certainly something called overdose and it applies even to IPL. My theory is that we dont notice too much of the overdose appearing out in the open because apart from the hardcore cricket fans who are busy being sick (looking at cricket in between advertisements) there are new fans getting created for the entertainment value. Maybe in the next couple of years when this phenomenon (new fans coming in) settles down, we will see more apprehension and questioning come in. There is nothing nationalistic in a business endeavour such as this. It is all capitalistic. And there are a lot of people who do not want to make a distinction. They are probably the people who want more Indians in the richest men list and what not.

[thevortex]

Chandan - Dhoni is playing today. As promised earlier. It remains to be seen if he is 100 percent fit. Fleming has said something to the effect that Chennai will take care that the Indian captain is not risked. Lets see how it actually turns out.

[Chandan]

Yes. Dhoni came back and even kept wickets though he didn't get a chance to bat, it seems. Anyone who saw the match, did he look 100% fit? Yesterday even Laxman came back. I hope he was not rushed too. But what about Gambhir and Nehra, two players who've been chosen for T20 WC as well?

[saneindian]

Yes. Dhoni came back and even kept wickets though he didn't get a chance to bat, it seems. Anyone who saw the match, did he look 100% fit? Yesterday even Laxman came back. I hope he was not rushed too. But what about Gambhir and Nehra, two players who've been chosen for T20 WC as well?

Dhoni was collecting nearly every ball thrown at his with his left arm, didnt see him use his right arm much. In fact before the match he himself said this before the game against Mumbai, " I am not 100% fit, but fit enough to play" clearly showing the pressure put on him by the franchise to play despite being injured. The biggest sign of worry though was the way he kept clutching at his back everytime he was crouching down to gather the throws. He definitely needs to rest his back/ get it treated properly.

[Chandan]

Dhoni was collecting nearly every ball thrown at his with his left arm, didnt see him use his right arm much. In fact before the match he himself said this before the game against Mumbai, " I am not 100% fit, but fit enough to play" clearly showing the pressure put on him by the franchise to play despite being injured. The biggest sign of worry though was the way he kept clutching at his back everytime he was crouching down to gather the throws. He definitely needs to rest his back/ get it treated properly.

Yes. I caught a few glimses of his batting yesterday and he was clearly uncomfortable playing the big shots. He even took one hand out whenever he tried it. If Dhoni is not 100% fit yet, I just do not understand the logic behind rushing him for these games where he is only doing more damage to himself. Meanwhile Nehra and Gambhir's condition isn't fully known even till now. Coach: Will decide on Gambhir today Monday , March 29 , 2010 New Delhi: The Delhi DareDevils coach Greg Shipperd is still not sure whether Gautam Gambhir would be fit to play against the Kolkata Knight Riders in the crucial Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Kotla on Monday. Asked whether Gambhir, who suffered a hamstring injury during the DareDevils’ first home match against the Mumbai Indians, was fit to resume, the Aussie coach said: “He is getting close to fitness and improving rapidly. But we will take a final call tomorrow (Monday). “If he doesn’t play tomorrow, hopefully we will get him in the next match,” added Shipperd. “As a captain, he is keen to play and is a vital member of the team.” Gambhir, along with Ashish Nehra, were flown to Sri Lanka by the DareDevils management by a chartered flight for special ayurvedic treatment. Both the players returned home last Monday but did not play the next match. Shipperd said: “Since Gambhir is also an important member of the Indian team, we cannot take chances.” So are we going to ruin another member of the Indian team by rushing him to play even when he's not fully fit? And will Jadeja play in T20WC without any match practice or physical and mental conditioning? Get ready to be thrown out of the championship in the 1st round itself, fellows!!

[riya]

There u go,the useless drama league is doing it again:((

[Chandan]

Painful wrist keeps Yuvraj out of practice Kings XI Punjab coach Tom Moody said Yuvraj Singh, selected in the Indian team for the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies still has a slight bit of pain on his right wrist and there was an opportunity on Sunday and Monday to rest in preparation for the match against Mumbai Indians. Yuvraj was not present at the team’s training and practice session at the Brabourne Stadium on Monday. S. Sreesanth has been dropped from the squad for the match against MI. So why on earth is Yuvraj continuing to play when he is far from fit? He was rested from tests and ODIs ue to this injury but can't be rested from IPL even at the cost of losing him forever? Why? And guys, shouldn't our selectors start looking for the #6 batsman in tests? I suppose, Kohli should be blooded in our next test series and Yuvraj should be dropped from all formats of international cricket till he regains full fitness. Your view?

[Roshanrocks]

if he is injured he should be resting till it heals... since punjab are already out of the competition he should be sent home to recuperate.... he may injure his wrist when having a drink or dancing in parties too, home is best option with mom to keep a stern eye on the lad

[Feed]

No breakdown in communication between Indian team and players over fitness : Gary Kirsten “We have regular communication from teams and we are updated about the players’ fitness,” Kirsten told DNA from Cape Town on Wednesday. At this stage, the coach has no worries. The BCCI has asked each franchise to submit daily fitness updates. More... No breakdown in communication between Indian team and players: Gary Kirsten Vijay Tagore / DNA Wednesday, March 31, 2010 23:52 IST Email Mumbai: Gary Kirsten had said that during IPL II, there was a breakdown in communication between the Indian team management and the players. This time, however, the Team India coach is happy with the communication system. “We have regular communication from teams and we are updated about the players’ fitness,” Kirsten told DNA from Cape Town on Wednesday. At this stage, the coach has no worries. The BCCI has asked each franchise to submit daily fitness updates. Sitting in South Africa, Kirsten has been following the players closely, particularly those selected for the World Twenty20. “I will come to India soon. I want to watch the IPL for a couple of weeks before flying to the West Indies.” The Indian team leaves for the Caribbean soon after the IPL. Kirsten is happy that the BCCI has extended the contract of Eric Simons. The bowling coach was roped in only for the series against South Africa in February. Now he has been asked to stay on till the World Twenty20 and he may even be retained till the 2011 World Cup. “He has been very helpful for the bowlers. His inputs have been very positive,” Kirsten said. Simons expressed satisfaction with the Board’s decision. The South African, currently coaching the Delhi Daredevils, said he is happy with the development. “We have started some work and it is a process. As I had said earlier, just one month was not enough to produce results and I’m happy that the BCCI has given me an extension.” Meanwhile, the BCCI has appointed Ranjib Biswal, a former national selector, as the manager for Team India for the World T20 beginning next month.

[Sachinism]

Yeh right Gary. There is no way some of those players are in terms of fitness where they should be