Varun Chakravarthy is the latest person who’s fitness is in question for the Australian tour and he has been dropped because of a shoulder problem. The 29-year-old leg spinner has a labrum tear in his shoulder that doesn’t affect his bowling but hinders his throwing. It’s an injury that he has had for a while but has aggravated as the IPL progressed.
This article was originally published in IndianExpress.com
This comes right on the heels on the fitness questions for Rohit Sharma, where he was dropped and eventually selected back into the team.
Initially, Chakravarthy was declared fit in players fitness report submitted by the Indian team’s physio Nitin Patel before the selectors picked him in India’s T20 squad.
“The selectors weren’t informed about the injury. Now it’s up to the selectors to pick Varun for the Australian tour or not. It will be selectors call,” a BCCI official said.
The shoulder niggle has been the reason for KKR making him largely field inside the 30-yard circle to stop the injury from worsening. He did bowl in the Indian team nets in Dubai where he has joined Indian team bubble after the IPL campaign ended.
Managing player fitness
According to a franchise chief executive, the fitness of BCCI-contracted players in IPL is monitored by the physios of the respective franchises. If there’s an injury, it is reported to the Indian team/BCCI physio. From then on, the franchise physio monitors the player’s fitness in coordination with the BCCI physio.
The franchise physio sends reports to the BCCI physio who follows it with his advice in terms of deciding the future course of action.
Fitness Concerns
The news about Chakravarthy’s injury comes on the back of the Rohit Sharma’s injury that continues to kick up a storm in Indian cricket fraternity. Sharma was not named in the squad and was also replaced as ODI vice-captain after selectors were under the impression that he might need a few weeks to recover from a leg injury.
The BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and Indian team’s coach Ravi Shastri publicly shared their hopes that Sharma won’t aggravate his injury by playing in the IPL but he continues to feature in the games.
Wriddhiman Saha, India’s Test wicketkeeper, is also injured and didn’t feature in the qualifier game between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals on November 8.
In January 2018, Saha was ruled out of a Test in South Africa due to a hamstring injury and a spate of injuries followed, forcing him out of action for more than a year.
Ishant Sharma was ruled out of the IPL with an abdominal muscle tear and Bhuvneshwar Kumar was ruled out with a thigh muscle injury. Both Sharma and Kumar are now doing their rehab at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
Chakravarty came to the limelight this season for KKR after he took five-wicket haul for Delhi Capitals and also when he bowled MS Dhoni, the second time he removed the former Indian captain in this IPL. India’s Australia tour starts with three ODIs from November 27, followed by T20s from December 4 before the first of the four Tests starts on December 17.
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