Hamstring setbacks put Team India fitness plans and CoE under scrutiny
Recurring hamstring problems for Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy have drawn sharp attention from the BCCI and raised questions about the effectiveness of the Centre of Excellence. Sources said Reddy was being pushed to bowl close to 140kmph to compensate for the injury-prone Hardik Pandya.
During Rahul Dravid’s tenure as head coach, the BCCI medical team, the CoE and the team management had charted out year-long roadmaps for individual players around major ICC events. Those programmes were intended to align training and workload so players would peak when it mattered most. The stated objective was to get each player to the required fitness level in time for the next ICC tournament or marquee Test series. The recent string of hamstring issues has prompted internal review of how those plans were executed.
Officials and support staff within the BCCI are said to be unsettled by the recurrence of soft-tissue injuries, particularly given the prior emphasis on long-term conditioning. The problems affecting Rana and Reddy have been flagged internally as avoidable in the context of the established planning framework. The matter has highlighted tensions between short-term team needs and longer-term individual conditioning prescriptions.
The specific suggestion that Reddy was asked to bowl close to 140kmph to make up for the absence of Hardik Pandya, described as injury-prone, has added to concerns about workload management. That detail has fuelled questions about whether tactical demands during selection or match preparation inadvertently increased risk to developing fast bowlers. The BCCI’s medical and coaching personnel are now reviewing whether prescribed training loads matched on-field expectations.
People involved in the set-up point to the CoE and medical staff’s prior mandate to synchronise fitness schedules with international calendars. Those roadmaps around major ICC events were supposed to minimise injury risk while ensuring availability for marquee fixtures. The recurrence of hamstring injuries suggests a gap between planning and practical outcomes that is now being examined.
The immediate focus for the board and support staff will be to determine how the existing year-long programmes were implemented and where adjustments are necessary. Answers about workload allocation and injury prevention protocols will be sought to reduce the likelihood of similar setbacks before the next ICC tournament or marquee Test series.
