da bet vitoria： In addition, the BCCI also decided to appointzonal medical commissions who will report to a single medicalcommittee, which will then look into the physical fitness ofplayers coming back from injury
Partab Ramchand13-Mar-2002″Better late than never” may be an age-old cliché, but it is anadage that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) seemsto swear by. Traditionally, Indian cricket administrators havealways been slow to react to changing trends, and that is onereason why the game in this country is a step or two behind theinternational level. But if the decisions taken at the workingcommittee meeting of the Board in New Delhi last month are anyindication, the tradition-bound officials have at least woken upto the fact that a few important changes have to be put intoeffect for the betterment of the players and the game in thiscountry.
In addition, the BCCI also decided to appointzonal medical commissions who will report to a single medicalcommittee, which will then look into the physical fitness ofplayers coming back from injury. According to Dalmiya, playerscurrently returning from injury do furnish fitness certificatesfrom their own doctors.
Indian cricket, over the years, has had certain inherentweaknesses. The inability of the batsmen to face up to fastbowling, poor ground fielding and catching, the lack of pacebowlers, and physical fitness problems are some that come to mindimmediately. In the past two or three decades, there have beenimprovements in aspects such as facing up to fast bowling andgrooming pace bowlers. But sub-standard fielding and poorphysical fitness are problems that have defied solution tilldate.The appointment of a foreign coach, it was thought, would go along way in tackling these problems. But while John Wright hascontributed a good deal to various aspects concerning the Indianteam over the 15 months he has been associated with it as coach,fielding and physical fitness continue to be problem areas. Thenumber of players suffering from various injuries is evidenceenough that they are not able to measure up to the hecticinternational schedules that are part and parcel of the moderngame. Even the appointment of another foreigner in the team inphysiotherapist Andrew Leipus did not seem to help matters inthis regard. In fact, most of Leipus’ time was devoted totreating injuries rather than preventing them.Given this background, it is heartening to know that the BCCI, ina bid to improve the overall fitness of the players, has decidedto appoint a full-time physical trainer in South African AdrianLe Roux. In fact, the working committee, which took the decisionto go in for a fitness coach, did so after Leipus informed Boardmembers that the players were in need of a more systematictraining regimen. Board chief Jagmohan Dalmiya was apparentlyconvinced by Leipus’ argument. Indeed, the BCCI went one betterand decided to have separate physical trainers for all the RanjiTrophy teams, besides one specialist in the field at the NationalCricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore.Le Roux’s first assignment will be on the tour of the West Indiesnext month. The chief objective is for the team to achieve peakfitness levels in time for the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. Itis a laudable aim, and once the person is identified, it is hopedthat team members will respond positively. For there is no doubtthat, in today’s game, matches can be won and lost on thisimportant aspect alone.In addition, the BCCI also decided to appoint zonal medicalcommissions who will report to a single medical committee, whichwill then look into the physical fitness of players coming backfrom injury. According to Dalmiya, players currently returningfrom injury do furnish fitness certificates from their owndoctors. “But once they are on the field, we find they are stillnot fully fit and the selectors are blamed. We want to stopthis,” said Dalmiya. A step in the right direction, belatedlyperhaps, but at least that step has been taken.One more problematic area to which Board officials have woken upis the nature of pitches in this country. For years, it has beenacknowledged by everyone even remotely associated with Indiancricket that the chief reason for the team’s sub-standard showingabroad is the fact that the wickets are so very different fromthose prevalent at home. Playing on slow surfaces or spinoriented tracks is hardly any kind of preparation for performingon faster and bouncer wickets abroad. Little wonder then thatthere is so much disparity between the Indian team’s record athome and playing away.Finally coming to terms with this long-standing problem, the BCCIhas decided to select 10 centres to prepare fast and bouncytracks. The Board wishes to tackle the problem right down theline by going in for faster wickets even in domestic cricket.According to Dalmiya, harder pitches will be prepared from the2002-2003 domestic season. He was of course quick to add, “Don’texpect wickets like Perth in Australia, but these will definitelyhave more bounce. For a start, we have identified the wickets inthe 10 Test-playing centres.” He added that two pitches in eachof the five zones would be selected, and the services of expertsfrom foreign countries would be utilised.A couple of other decisions taken at the meeting are bound tohave far-reaching effects. For example, it was decided toimplement a rotation policy for international players to givethem the required rest before the World Cup. According to theBCCI chief, owing to the busy schedule of the Indian team beforenext year’s World Cup, the Board had decided to give some playersthe required rest at their own behest. He added that when he metsome senior players during the Bangalore Test against England inDecember, they said that they would like to have such a system.At least the views of the players are not only being sought butalso being put into effect, and that is surely an encouragingsign for Indian cricket.