No blame game over Bumrah, Sudharsan fitness, says VVS Laxman

BCCI's VVS Laxman defended the selection process, stating there's no 'blame game' for Jasprit Bumrah and Sai Sudharsan being ruled out. He explained players were picked 'subject to fitness' with seamless communication on their progress.

Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) Centre of Excellence (CoE) head VVS Laxman on Sunday said there was no question of blaming anyone over Jasprit Bumrah and Sai Sudharsan being ruled out of India's Test squad for the Sri Lanka series after initially being named subject to fitness clearance. Laxman, who addressed a press conference alongside BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia at the BCCI CoE in Bengaluru, said there was seamless coordination between the CoE, team management, support staff and the selection committee regarding players undergoing rehabilitation.

"We don't like to use the name blame because when you're using the word 'blame', then you're finding someone as a scapegoat. So I don't think so; maybe I don't know what you all feel, and you start blaming because of this and because of that, but there's brilliant coordination between the COE, between the team management of both the teams and the SSM staff of both the teams and the selection committee," said Laxman.

Laxman Explains 'Subject to Fitness' Process

"Now you're talking about Bumrah and Sudharsan. When we send a fitness status report, the process is that the selector reaches out to the COE asking for the fitness status report, and we collect the current fitness status and send a fitness status report to the selection committee chairperson with a copy to obviously the head coach of both the teams and the BCCI. Now, Bumrah and Sai Sudharsan, there's an asterisk sign attached to a player selection. What does that asterisk mean? It means subject to fitness. So Bumrah and Sai Sudharsan were going to be picked to Sri Lanka subject to fitness clearance and as I told before you assess them, you move them from one stage to the next stage and if the progression is slow you communicate to the selection committee chairman and the head coach which is happening seamlessly and they understand that they're not yet ready to participate in an international series," he added.

He further added, "Always it's player-centric and team-centric. So that communication is happening seamlessly. So the subject to fitness is something we require to keep in mind. What the BCCI has done is, there is transparency in all the fitness reports and also the selection. At the end of the selection, whether it's a release to the press, it's clearly mentioned that these players are picked subject to fitness. Means if they don't clear the fitness tests here, that means the selectors will know who the other players are who will go in their place if they don't clear the fitness test."

The BCCI had announced India's Test squad for the Sri Lanka tour on July 28, with both Bumrah and Sudharsan carrying an asterisk against their names, indicating that their selection was subject to fitness clearance. Bumrah was subsequently ruled out after failing to recover from a left knee niggle sustained during the second ODI against England in Cardiff last month. Jammu and Kashmir seamer Auqib Nabi was named as his replacement. Sudharsan was the latest player to be ruled out after failing to recover from a big toe injury sustained during the second India A Test against Sri Lanka A last month. He had scored two centuries in the two unofficial Tests before being hit on the toe in the second match and had since been undergoing rehabilitation at the CoE in Bengaluru.

Why Injured Players Are Named in Squads

Explaining why injured players are sometimes included in squads, Saikia said selections are made several weeks before a team departs, and a player's fitness can change during that period. "We basically have our selection meetings at least three to four weeks before the team departs. So therefore, a three weeks before or four weeks before, we do not know the exact status of the player. Therefore, that asterisk subject to fitness is given because that particular player is under a program of rehabilitation. So if he gets fit within that period of 21 days or 28 days, he will be taken into the team," said Saikia.

"So that is precisely why we do not outrightly reject him because on the date of selection, we are rejecting him because on that day he is not fit. But by the time it will be effectively required for the travel or to play the match, by that time he may be totally fit. So in that situation, we always keep that subject to the fitness condition. So we do not deprive the player also, and it is very uncertain that within 21 days he will get fit or not. Nobody can predict as VVS has rightly... it is a human body, it is not a machine. So he may take 14 days time, or he may take 28 days time, subject to his own body composition," he added.

India's Injury Woes Mount

Sudharsan and Bumrah are among several players unavailable for the two-Test series. Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar are also dealing with injuries, while Akash Deep remains unavailable after suffering stress reactions in his back. Rana was ruled out with a Grade 1 biceps femoris muscle strain after returning from a major right knee ligament injury that had kept him out for four months. Reddy is recovering from a left quadriceps injury, while Washington Sundar has been ruled out of the first Test with a hamstring injury.

There is also a fitness concern around captain Shubman Gill, although he has not been ruled out. Gill did not take the field on the opening day of India's practice match against Sri Lanka Cricket XI in Colombo after hurting his right finger during training. India's two-Test series against Sri Lanka begins in Galle on August 15.

India's Test Squad for Sri Lanka:

Shubman Gill (captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Auqib Nabi, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Devdutt Padikkal and Saransh Jain. (ANI)

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