IPL franchises against BCCI's plan to have NCA physio in UAE

MUMBAI: Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises are not in line with the Indian cricket board’s (BCCI) proposed plan to send National Cricket Academy (NCA) physiotherapist Ashish Kaushik to the UAE during the T20 tournament. The board wants Kaushik to specifically track Team India’s cricketers, who are returning to the field after a gap of five months and are scheduled to fly to Australia immediately after the IPL.
Franchises, however, are of the view that no ‘outsider’, meaning those not part of the IPL teams’ respective bio-secure bubbles, should be allowed to physically interact with players during the tournament.
The objection appears to stem from the following aspects: If an IPL team is supposed to remain inside a strict bio-secure bubble, how will it help having someone who is not part of that bubble interact with players? Also, franchises are sceptical about NCA’s handling of players given some recent incidents. Franchises feel that if NCA wants to keep track of players, it can be done through video conferencing instead.
“Franchises hire the best physios and trainers from around the world. The NCA guys can interact with players and franchises through video conferencing. There is also a trust deficit between the players and NCA,” say those tracking developments.
“Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s hernia went undetected. Kedar Jadhav’s return was rushed. Wriddhiman Saha’s rehabilitation was ‘messed up’. Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah had their share of unpleasant experiences at the NCA. Who wants to take chances? The NCA has time and again proved incapable.”
TOI understands that more than at least two franchises intend to convey the same to the IPL governing council when a meeting is held this coming week.
Franchises say that in ideal circumstances – without the coronavirus pandemic raging – allowing Kaushik to be with the players would have been fine. Now, they’d rather avoid the indulgence.
“Coordination will be an issue and we don’t want too many cooks spoiling the broth. Let’s have a proper system in place and follow it to the T,” say franchises.
The BCCI hasn’t revealed much about NCA’s functioning in recent months, except president Sourav Ganguly insisting that players should report to the academy. The larger question of whether the institution meets top international standards has time and again been left unanswered. Lack of trust also seems to be a reason.
“Franchises take care of their players throughout the year. The best facilities are being made available in UAE. Franchises have some of the best support staff. Take Delhi Capitals, for example. They brought Patrick Farhart on board as soon as he quit Team India. Kolkata Knight Riders’ Kamlesh Jain, who did his masters in sports therapy from London Met, has been the head physio at Cricket Association of Bengal. Chennai’s Tommy Simsek is someone who has MS Dhoni’s trust. Former Team India physio John Gloster is with Rajasthan Royals,” say those in the know.