Breaking bad: Why are so many Indian cricketers getting injured? | Cricket - Hindustan Times
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Breaking bad: Why are so many Indian cricketers getting injured?

By, Mumbai
Dec 14, 2022 08:53 PM IST

Too many formats, too much cricket, botched-up recoveries or simply not enough fitness work?

There was a time when one physiotherapist was all the team had in the name of the sports science department. But now, from the treatment of injuries to the fitness trainer, the Indian team moves around with a platoon of fitness experts.

India's captain Rohit Sharma, left, coach Rahul Dravid, center and Rahul Chahar attend a training session ahead of their second one day international cricket match against Bangladesh in Dhaka(AP)
India's captain Rohit Sharma, left, coach Rahul Dravid, center and Rahul Chahar attend a training session ahead of their second one day international cricket match against Bangladesh in Dhaka(AP)

Apart from the physio, there is a trainer (sometimes two), a psychologist, a bio-mechanics expert, a team doctor, a video analyst, and a masseur -- you have all the support you need.

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Then again, it's baffling that the team management is still struggling to cope with a spate of injuries. The Bangladesh Test match is another example of India missing quite a few of their first-choice players. The most glaring being their pace spearheads, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami. It has put the concerned support staff's role under the scanner.

"I mean there are definitely a few injury concerns," Rohit Sharma had said after India's five-run loss that meant Bangladesh took a 2-0 lead in the ODI series. "We need to try and get to the bottom of it. I don't know what exactly it is. Maybe they're playing too much cricket. We need to try and monitor those guys because it's important to understand when they come for India, they need to be 100%, in fact, more than 100%."

As the Indian team tries to put a finger on the problem, some noted fitness experts believe workload management and the preparation to switch to different formats may need a relook.

John Gloster, the former India physio, and now Rajasthan Royals head physio and medical co-ordinator, says: “Workload monitoring is the most important component of managing over the injury situations in any team, whether the Indian cricket team, an IPL team, or the English football club team. If you don’t get the load monitoring right, then obviously injury problems escalate. We look at this across three pillars, first: The preparation period. Second, the performance (How adequately they are prepared on match day) and third the recovery: If you don’t get the recovery right, the preparation will be hindered and therefore the performance will be hindered, then the injuries go up.”

Unless you are putting all three pieces together, obviously then injuries become an issue. Overuse becomes an issue, then recovery becomes really important, he says.

Injuries are part of the game but this season has been particularly tough for the Indian team. Getting an injury during a game as a result of a dive or slip can’t be helped, but when you break down again after the rehab, it doesn't speak well of the setup. Ask Bumrah and Deepak Chahar. Bumrah missed the World Cup due to a recurrence of a back injury a few weeks ahead of the competition in Australia. Chahar, meanwhile, has had a tough time this year. First, the swing bowler tore a quadricep muscle during India's T20Is against West Indies in February. Then, he picked up a back issue while undergoing rehab for the quad injury at the NCA (National Cricket Academy). He missed the IPL that followed. He returned to action on India's tour of Zimbabwe in August. But in October, a stiff back ruled him out of the final two ODIs against South Africa. He again broke down during the Bangladesh series.

Overall, the fast-bowling department has been hit hardest. Mohammed Shami has been twice injured -- before the Asia Cup and then during the India vs Bangladesh ODI series. Debutant Kuldeep Sen became another member in the list of injured players. In the first India versus Bangladesh ODI, he was advised rest by the BCCI medical team after he told them that he felt back pain after the game.

India’s T20 World Cup campaign was also hampered by the side effects of the long lay-off owing to the injury to KL Rahul. The batter had suffered a groin injury ahead of the T20I series versus South Africa in June and had to go to Germany for surgery. It took him a long time to find his rhythm as he missed a series of games against South Africa, England, Ireland and West Indies, returning to action only end of August. His rustiness was seen at the Asia Cup and the World Cup.

Before the start of the Bangladesh ODI series, India lost wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant due to a niggle. It riled captain Rohit Sharma enough to publicly question the spate of injuries after losing the series.

For former Delhi Daredevils physio Vaibhav Daga, who is head sports science and rehabilitation, consultant sports medicine at Mumbai’s Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, avers with Gloster’s view on workload management: “I would definitely interpret it as workload management. It is the key because the volume of cricket that is being played, series happening back-to-back, even if you see the last two months, they are playing three different series. The boys are not getting a complete break to recover”

For Daga, the key to injury management begins with accurate data collection through a good workload management system. “I am sure the support staff is very well equipped with the workload management system which will give us data. First of all, we need to have some kind of monitoring system that will give us the exact data of what is happening with every player, it’s not only about the skills, it is what kind of fitness work they do, how much physical stress are they going through? How much mental stress, which is also one of the big factors (especially due to the pandemic), are they under? This is what happens in the best of the leagues. We always look up to football for sports science and medicine research, we draw from that aspect and take it into other sports.”

As per Daga’s knowledge, the system has been put in place at the NCA (under Nitin Patel) and we will see the results.

One of the challenges for the players is switching from one format to another. The best players are so talented and adaptable, they are playing three formats of the game. While the sport is the same but the demands on fitness for a T20 game to a Test are very different. The fitness experts agree that that is why the injuries might be happening.

“Absolutely. Different formats do require a different aspect of your physiology. The shorter the game, more power, more quicker, intense it will be. The longer the game, the volume will be more, you have to work accordingly. You can’t apply the same training methodology. One kind of training will not suit all formats of the game. You find a way where you can amalgamate all three, you need a balance between the three," says Daga, who has earlier been with BCCI at the National Cricket Academy.

“We know if you are not adequately prepared for high-speed running (in T20s) there is a high risk of injury, particularly the muscles like calf, the quadricep or hamstring muscles, the high-speed running muscle," says Gloster.

For Gloster, who is also head of sports science and medicine at GoSports Foundation, it comes down to the overall logistics and making decisions about what formats are leading into each other. How well are we monitoring the future tours programme in order to protect our players?

“It means, are we looking at our FTP and looking at environmental conditions where they are playing, and the format they are playing? Are we going from one format extreme to other format extreme? So, we have greater responsibility on how to manage their recovery, manage their preparation and how we prepare them for the next day’s performances.”

The Royals physio says his approach will be to ask questions around the system, around the structure and processes. “That’s the way I read it, I am not saying that is the case at the moment, I am saying that is how I would approach the situation, ask questions about the system, around the structure and the processes, and are they in place and are they functioning adequately.”

“Is there adequate communication with key personnel, physio to the technical staff, logistics staff, everybody needs to be communicating. So this communication or the reporting structure that’s around the team as well within the team is functioning in order to allow those three verticals to properly function."

The Indian cricket board had made it mandatory for a player returning from injury to play a domestic game to be passed fit. It is a more sure-shot way of determining a player's recovery and fitness than a fitness test. According to Gloster, the data is clear that match situation’s demands can’t be matched in a training situation.

“It is really important, the data that we have now, particularly from the GPS tells us that no effort, even 100 percent perceived as effort in a training situation matches a match situation. The numbers tell us is only about 75 to 80 percent. Playing matches, you are never really passed fit to play until you play a match, so a transition from injury back to a domestic game of the same intensity, taking you to a T20 international match of the same format is essentially critical in determining a full performance."

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