{"id":1604,"date":"2026-08-10T10:03:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T10:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/08\/10\/vvs-laxman-bcci-centre-bumrah-sudharsan\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T10:03:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T10:03:51","slug":"vvs-laxman-bcci-centre-bumrah-sudharsan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/08\/10\/vvs-laxman-bcci-centre-bumrah-sudharsan\/","title":{"rendered":"VVS Laxman Defends BCCI Centre After Bumrah, Sudharsan Injuries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"9fece8afa224fd09e54b043d0febfb58\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- NR ATF -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8898941184964366\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"4839033563\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>VVS Laxman, who heads the Board of Control for Cricket in India&#8217;s (BCCI) Centre of Excellence (CoE), pushed back against mounting criticism of the board&#8217;s injury\u2011management procedures after two senior players were ruled out of the upcoming two\u2011Test series in Sri Lanka. Fast\u2011bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and No.\u202f3 batsman Sai Sudharsan were both withdrawn after failing to obtain the required fitness clearances.<\/p>\n<h2>Conditional selection and the role of the asterisk<\/h2>\n<p>The squad for the Sri Lanka tour was announced on July\u202f28, a week before the team\u2019s departure. Both Bumrah and Sudharsan were listed conditionally, meaning their inclusion was subject to passing a fitness assessment. Laxman explained that this practice is built into the selection process: \u201cThe selector reaches out to the CoE asking for the fitness status report. We collect the current status and send a fitness status report to the selection committee chairman\u2026 with a copy to the head coach of both the teams and the BCCI.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added that the asterisk attached to a player\u2019s name in a media release simply denotes \u201csubject to fitness.\u201d The protocol requires the player to move through a series of assessment stages, and if progress is slower than expected, the CoE informs the selection committee chairman and the head coach. \u201cThey understand that they\u2019re not yet ready to participate in the national series. Always it\u2019s player\u2011centric and team\u2011centric,\u201d Laxman said.<\/p>\n<p>BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia reinforced the explanation, noting that selection meetings are held three to four weeks before a tour, leaving uncertainty about a player\u2019s exact condition. \u201cIf he gets fit within the period of 21 days or 28 days, he will be taken into the team. We do not outrightly reject him because he\u2019s not fit on the date of selection,\u201d Saikia said. He emphasized that the body is not a machine and recovery timelines can vary.<\/p>\n<h2>Rehabilitation pathway at the Centre of Excellence<\/h2>\n<p>Laxman detailed the CoE\u2019s broader remit beyond simple injury treatment. Once a player is injured, the Indian team physiotherapist determines the nature of the injury and liaises with specialists connected to the centre. The player is then examined clinically by the Sports Science &#038; Medicine (SSM) team, which creates a tailored recovery plan.<\/p>\n<p>After the initial medical assessment, the player moves to a strength and conditioning phase overseen by the Sports Nutrition and Conditioning (SNC) unit. Following that, skill work is re\u2011introduced and the workload is gradually built up. The final stage involves playing two Return\u2011To\u2011Play (RTP) matches before the player is declared fit for national duty.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe whole idea is that when he goes back to the Indian team, men and women, or wherever, including the state teams, he has to be up and running and from the first match he is able to perform to the best of his potential,\u201d Laxman said. He stressed that the guidelines and timelines are objective, but they must accommodate the variability of the human body.<\/p>\n<h2>Impact on the Sri Lanka tour and replacements<\/h2>\n<p>With Bumrah\u2019s withdrawal, the board flew in Auqib Nabi as his replacement. As of the time of the statements, a substitute for Sudharsan had not yet been announced. Laxman asserted that transparency is a cornerstone of the BCCI\u2019s approach, noting that fitness reports and selection decisions are publicly disclosed. \u201cIf they don\u2019t clear the fitness test, the selectors will know who are the other players who will go in their place,\u201d he said, describing the process as \u201cbasic common sense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The CoE\u2019s systematic approach, according to Laxman, aims to prevent premature returns that could jeopardise a player\u2019s long\u2011term health or the team\u2019s performance. By requiring players to complete the full RTP programme and demonstrate readiness in competitive matches, the board hopes to minimise the risk of recurring injuries.<\/p>\n<p>Both Laxman and Saikia concluded that the conditional selection mechanism is designed to balance the interests of the individual player with the needs of the national side. While the recent setbacks have drawn media scrutiny, the officials maintain that the procedures are transparent, medically sound, and aligned with best practices in elite sport.<\/p>\n<p>As India prepares to depart for Sri Lanka, the focus now shifts to the players who have cleared the CoE\u2019s assessments and the coaching staff\u2019s ability to adapt the game plan without Bumrah\u2019s pace and Sudharsan\u2019s batting depth. The board\u2019s officials remain confident that the existing protocols will continue to safeguard player welfare while ensuring a competitive squad for the upcoming Tests.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BCCI head VVS Laxman defended the Centre of Excellence\u2019s injury protocols after fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah and batter Sai Sudharsan were withdrawn from the Sri Lanka Test squad for failing fitness checks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[299],"tags":[273,1392,1390,1391,1389],"class_list":["post-1604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-bcci","tag-centre-of-excellence","tag-jasprit-bumrah","tag-sai-sudharsan","tag-vvs-laxman","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}