IPL Chairman, Rajiv Shukla, Plans Better Coordination with IPL Franchisees Over Injury Management
Sreelata Yellamrazu: Upon taking over as the new IPL Chairman, Rajiv Shukla, struck the right note when he talked about the importance of player and injury management and better coordination with the IPL franchisees. However, how much ground does it hold? Shukla took over fr Sreelata Yellamrazu:
Upon taking over as the new IPL Chairman, Rajiv Shukla, struck the right note when he talked about the importance of player and injury management and better coordination with the IPL franchisees. However, how much ground does it hold?
Shukla took over from Chirayu Amin as the IPL chairman and one of the key issues on the agenda no doubt would have been the issue of player injuries that resulted in a depleted Indian squad failing miserably on the tour of England. Himself the official on the part of the BCCI to respond to queries on injuries, Shukla would know first hand the kind of exasperation that has greeted the news of an injury to an Indian player.
Furthermore that these controversies involving injured players persisting playing in the IPL, India’s domestic Twenty20 competition, and thereafter pulling up when called upon for national duty has been a case all too familiar even at the height of India’s success as the no.1 Test team. In that scenario, Shukla knows that the IPL needs to defend its brand and not become the favourite bashing target for all injuries that the Indian cricketers seem afflicted by.
There are though legitimate reasons why there is a greater need for the IPL franchisees and the IPL governing council to be on the same page because while it is paramount that the Indian cricketers are in top shape for the national assignments, the IPL franchisees would need to tread a fine line as far as making sure that the money they invest is repaid but also, that there is the matter of perspective wherein any minor injury is then handled in coordination with the BCCI members as well as the physios and trainers at the disposal of the franchisees to ensure prolonged fitness standards for the players, whether they play for the IPL or the national team.
It is going to be one of the more serious issues that Shukla will need to be handling and although he has spoken the right words when he talked of the need of the coordination with the franchisees with regard to player fitness, it will be an area closely following particularly after what went down in England where India had too much on the line and it was the worst possible result for the team by far, something that the BCCI would want to avoid at all costs not only from the perspective that the team lost everything at stake but also, that the immediate impact was the fall out of the blame on the IPL.