harshit rana, hardik pandya, jasprit bumrah
New Delhi: The Indian cricket board’s ( BCCI ) injury management programme at its Centre of Excellence (CoE) has been under renewed focus over the past 20 months. Now, according to the CoE annual report, accessed by TOI, as many as 32 top men’s team players, including 20 BCCI centrally contracted players and 12 players under a new targeted/India ‘A’ category, underwent rehabilitation for injuries between April 2025 and March 2026. The list has swelled post IPL 2026, with at least two players breaking down in each series. Interestingly, the report states that the BCCI increased the CoE’s budget by nearly Rs 35 crore compared to the actual expenses in the previous financial year. it mentions that injuries to 68 players across genders were treated and managed by the BCCI-CoE Sports Science Medicine (SSM) team While the report does not specify how many times each player reported to the CoE. The latest Team India players added to the list up to Sept 30 this year are Virat Kohli, Varun Chakravarthy, Prince Yadav and Harsh Dubey, besides multiple ‘targeted’ players. Rana, Pandya and Reddy have each spent at least four months at the CoE in the last 18 months. It has been learnt that Team India strength and conditioning (S&C) coach Adrian Le Roux suggested a few tweaks to workload management routines in June 2025, while the CoE has been reluctant to deviate from its own mechanisms.
Because of a surge in injuries over the last year, india’s Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir have been vocal about how difficult it has become to plan tours. Rohit last reported to the CoE for a hamstring injury following this year’s IPL. The CoE’s expenses include administrative costs, courses and match expenses. Interestingly, the report also reveals that Rohit Sharma underwent rehabilitation at the CoE during this period, but the BCCI never made an official statement about it. From that list, Jasprit Bumrah, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Hardik Pandya and Prasidh Krishna have been repeat cases. No SSM head, lack of coordination with Team India TOI understands that there has been a breakdown in communication between Team India’s SSM team and the CoE’s SSM team, with cricket head VVS Laxman being the only medium of communication. Personnel from the CoE’s SSM team travelled to domestic tournaments to monitor key India players under the injury prevention and management programme.