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BCCI secretary explains why Jasprit Bumrah and Sai Sudharsan were picked in initial India squad for Sri Lanka Tests despite injury originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia explained the "subject to fitness" tag given to Bumrah and Sudharsan.
- He said selection meetings happen three to four weeks before the team departs.
- Both Jasprit Bumrah and Sai Sudharsan were later ruled out of the India vs Sri Lanka Test series.
Why India picked injured Bumrah and Sudharsan in Sri Lanka Test squad
BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia has explained the reasoning behind naming Jasprit Bumrah and Sai Sudharsan in India's initial squad for the Sri Lanka Tests despite both carrying injuries. The clarification came amid growing scrutiny over the team's handling of a mounting fitness crisis.
Both players were named in the 15-man squad with an asterisk against their names, indicating their availability was subject to fitness clearance from the BCCI Centre of Excellence.
Bumrah has since been ruled out with a knee issue and replaced by Auqib Nabi, while Sudharsan was also sidelined by a toe injury.
Saikia was speaking at a press conference in Bengaluru on Sunday, alongside Centre of Excellence head VVS Laxman, after reviewing the facility's rehabilitation and injury-management programme.
The BCCI secretary sought to explain why the board does not simply leave injured players out at the point of selection.
MORE: Sai Sudharsan ruled out of Sri Lanka Test series: Three players who can replace injured Indian batter
Devajit Saikia explains the 'subject to fitness' selection process
Saikia pointed to the timing of India's selection meetings as the root of the issue, with squads often finalised well before a player's fitness can be confirmed. He argued that the asterisk exists precisely to avoid unfairly discarding a recovering player.
"We basically have our selection meetings at least three to four weeks before the team departs. So therefore, three weeks before or four weeks before, we do not know the exact status of the player," Saikia told reporters at the COE. "That asterisk subject to fitness is given because that particular player is under a programme of rehabilitation."
He explained that the window allows time for a player to prove his fitness before travelling. Saikia added, "So if he gets fit within the period of 21 days or 28 days, he will be taken into the team. We do not outrightly reject him, because he's not fit on the date of selection."
The BCCI secretary stressed that the approach was designed to protect the player's interests rather than gamble on his fitness.
He said, "By the time he will be effectively required to travel or to play the match, by that time, he may be totally fit. So in that situation, we always keep subject to fitness. So we do not deprive the player also."
Saikia also acknowledged the inherent unpredictability of recovery timelines, echoing a point made by Laxman. He added, "This is very uncertain that within 21 days, he will get picked or not. Nobody can predict that, and as VVS has rightly said, 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."
MORE: Gill injury scare: India captain injures thumb ahead of warm-up Test
A reasonable explanation that still leaves questions unanswered
On its own terms, Saikia's logic is sound. Naming a recovering player subject to fitness is standard practice worldwide, and it does protect an athlete from being written off simply because a selection meeting fell during his rehabilitation. Few would argue with the principle itself.
The harder question is why so many players are in rehabilitation in the first place. A transparent selection process is welcome, but it does not address the underlying pattern of breakdowns that has left India naming multiple asterisked names for a single series.
Saikia and Laxman fronting up with an explanation is a start, yet the board's real challenge lies in reducing the number of injuries, not just clarifying how it picks around them.
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