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. The CoE’s expenses include administrative costs, courses and match expenses.The CoE’s projected expenses for 2026-27 now stand at Rs 127 crore, compared to Rs 92 crore in actual expenses 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 because of a surge in injuries over the last year. While the report does not specify how many times each player reported to the CoE, it mentions that injuries to 68 players across genders were treated and managed by the BCCI-CoE Sports Science Medicine (SSM) team.When it comes to the nature of the injuries, the majority were soft-tissue injuries. The only impact injury treatment mentioned was that of Rishabh Pant, who underwent treatment following a foot fracture sustained during a Test in Manchester in July 2025.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. Rohit last reported to the CoE for a hamstring injury following this year’s IPL.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. From that list, Jasprit Bumrah, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Hardik Pandya and Prasidh Krishna have been repeat cases. Rana, Pandya and Reddy have each spent at least four months at the CoE in the last 18 months.No SSM head, lack of coordination with Team IndiaThe BCCI advertised the post of SSM head at the CoE only last month. The post has been lying vacant since Nitin Patel resigned in March 2025.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. 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.Personnel from the CoE’s SSM team travelled to domestic tournaments to monitor key India players under the injury prevention and management programme.The last time Indian cricket saw a spate of soft-tissue injuries was in 2021-22, when players suddenly moved out of playing in bubbles during the Covid-19 pandemic. That time, the issue was brought under control in two to three months. In 2017, too, there was a three-month phase when multiple players broke down after S&C coach Shanker Basu introduced drastic changes to the fitness programme.Fifteen budgeted camps didn’t happenAccording to the report, 15 of the 57 budgeted camps and tournaments were not conducted in the last audited year.The CoE conducted 25 elite/high-performance camps across age groups and genders, besides special camps for the north-eastern states. It also organised multiple courses and camps for S&C coaches, other coaches and match officials.Thirty-seven top men’s players opted for ‘training block’ programmeThe CoE started a programme called the ‘training block’ for contracted and targeted/India ‘A’ players. According to the report, 37 players, including 11 contracted players and 26 India ‘A’/targeted players, availed themselves of the programme, which focuses on strength and skill training.
