Overplayed team prone to injuries

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There may not be a performance review after this tour concludes and Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men return home to the dusty, dry featherbeds that they find oh so convenient. But that doesn’t mean the way the team management has tackled injuries this summer will be forgotten.
India have lost a record-setting eight players on this tour, more than the number of weeks they have spent here begging the question: Why does a player lie about his injury and risk complete breakdown? It’s not the money, contrary to what many believe. “Missing a few international games does not mean a player loses money from the brands he endorses. Contracts are signed based on what a player can offer a brand off the field and not on it,” says Harbhajan Singh’s business manager Sangeet Shirodkar.
“Cricketers are not paid according to performance — they don’t earn more if they play well or less if they don’t. There’s no such clause in their contracts. That’s not how things work,” adds another agent of an India player currently plying his trade in England. There are, of course, obvious losses. For every Test match missed, the player surrenders `7 lakhs in match fees while a missed ODI costs `4 lakhs. But in the age of multi-crore deals and the cash cow — Indian Premier League — a match fee is a pittance. And by playing through niggles, cricketers lose a lot more when their mid-tour breakdowns cost them a few months of game-time, and the Indian team runs/wickets.
It goes far beyond money to something as simple as the fear of losing the place to a younger, more fitter player who may seal it for good. “When you know there might be more than a dozen people who can fill your shoes even for a short period, you try to play through pain and hope that somehow it will not come in the way of matches,” says former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi. “It’s a foolish idea because the players think they can get the injury fixed during a lean period.”
With today’s demanding schedule, there is no lean period though. And it has naturally taken a toll on the bodies. Case in point Zaheer Khan, who has broken down a whopping eight times since suffering a recurrence of an ankle injury in January 2008 ahead of the tour of Australia and six times in the last 15 months. It’s a marvel that despite the injuries he is unquestionably India’s best fast bowler in recent times, and one of the most skilled in the game right now.
The Indian team spent almost one-third of the previous calendar year on the field — 104 days — and that is besides the travel between cities and countries and the time spent in IPL and the Champions League Twenty20.
“There are just too many matches. It’s great to watch cricket on TV all the time, but then don’t expect your best players to always be available,” says ex-cricketer and former India coach Madan Lal. “The madness has to stop one day. Look what is happening in England. Obviously we did not value our number one position or we would have been better prepared.”