Injuries sideline multiple India players as BCCI probes causes ahead of Sri Lanka tie

As the Indian team prepares to take on Sri Lanka, attention has shifted to a string of players absent from the squad because of injuries, a situation outlined in a report published on August 12, 2026.

Jasprit Bumrah (left knee ‘niggle’), Sai Sudharsan (stress reaction in right foot and toe), Hardik Pandya (quadriceps, setback in recovery), Harshit Rana (muscle strain sustained after return from right knee ligament injury and surgery), Nitish Reddy (quadriceps), Washington Sundar (hamstring) and Akash Deep (back stress) are among those missing, and the suspicion that cricketers carry injuries through the IPL to the detriment of international prospects is growing.

The IPL has become an easy target for criticism because of the money and prestige involved for owners and sponsors, and the Board of Control for Cricket in India is asking difficult questions about the pattern of absences; the article warns the BCCI “might not like the answer.”

The frequency with which elite players suffer muscle pulls or other injuries has prompted discussion of Over Training Syndrome (OTS) as a possible factor, a point given wider currency when American Simone Manuel, the first Black woman to win an individual Olympic swimming gold, revealed she had OTS.

Cricket’s physical demands differ from many other sports: long periods of low activity can be followed by sudden, intense actions such as sprinting, diving, jumping, throwing, batting or bowling; the piece uses Rahul Dravid’s slip fielding as an example of role-specific fitness and notes wicketkeepers and fast bowlers require different training even while a basic fitness level is expected.

Players and teams now work with professional trainers and physiotherapists and follow detailed routines, a contrast with an earlier era when the Indian team physio’s role was described as a fiefdom whose duties once included cutting players’ hair or running errands for them and their families.

The article contrasts past and present fitness culture by citing Kapil Dev—who “didn’t miss a single Test with a fitness issue; he played 131 of them”—and Sunil Gavaskar, who “didn’t believe in overdoing the gym routines, yet knew how to keep himself fit, as he continues to at the age of 77,” while noting that Tiger Pataudi emphasised fitness without allowing it to supplant skill development.

With so much cricket in multiple formats—“five, if you include The Hundred and T10”—and fixtures spread across the year, fitness has become central; Indian players now focus on diet, sleep, workouts and stress management, the BCCI has introduced the yo-yo test and the Bronco test to quantify ‘fitness’, and the article says "over fitness" may not be real but over training is, warning younger players sometimes resemble "the taught strings of a tennis racquet" and risk a hamstring "twang." The piece also recalls Virat Kohli’s own assessment of his endurance: “I know I can play 49 overs and still run 10, 12 in the last over to win a game,” he once told an interviewer.

Between 1500 and 2000 players take part in India’s domestic season in varying conditions and at different times of the year, and while injuries are an expected part of an athlete’s career the concern now is their regularity in a national squad that has access to top coaches and physios. The article poses the questions: Do we ask too much of our players? Do the players ask too much of their bodies? It adds that although rotating players is common practice, persistent injuries warrant studying patterns, however uncomfortable the findings.

As India readies for the Sri Lanka match, the BCCI’s inquiry and the call to examine recurring injury trends form the immediate implication from the report and are presented as issues that need investigation rather than settled explanations.