New Delhi:
There is a controversy brewing around the fitness of Jasprit Bumrah and his apparent refusal to undergo training at the National Cricket Academy (NCA). Bumrah, who has been laid low by a stress fracture with the back, wasn’t too keen on training at the NCA and had even travelled to the United Kingdom to consult doctors. This decision did not go down well with NCA head Rahul Dravid. According to a report in Times of India, Bumrah wasn’t keen on training at the NCA was based on feedback he had received from senior players, which wasn’t pleasant. Speaking about the incident, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly reiterated that the NCA was the final point when it came to fitness.
"I am not aware of the issue. But Indian players will have to go back to NCA and we will make sure it's comfortable and logistically easier. NCA has to be the first and final point for International cricketers. it's a place for Indian cricketers. Everyone has to go through NCA. They play cricket all over the places year long. We will also try and see whether NCA physios can come and help Jasprit in Mumbai. We will keep the monitoring under NCA. We want to make sure there's best people with NCA," Ganguly said.
An NCA source told TOI that most senior players were not too keen on going to the NCA. "Instead of addressing that concern and understanding why players don’t want to come there, the NCA is turning him away. That’s not how we need to deal with a cricketer who’s changed the face of Indian fast bowling over the last two years," the source said.
Ganguly also said the CAC will be appointed only for one meeting to decide the selectors as the appointment of the men's head coach has already been done by the previous panel led by former captain Kapil Dev. "The CAC will be appointed in a couple of days. It will only be for one meeting to appoint the selectors as the head coach has already been picked," Ganguly said.
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The tenure of the current selection panel head MSK Prasad has ended along with one another member, Gagan Khoda. Jatin Paranjpe, Sarandeep Singh and Devang Gandhi still have one year left in their tenure but there is speculation that they are unlikely to be retained.
