BCCI Centre of Excellence treated 32 top cricketers last year
The BCCI's Centre of Excellence reported a rise in rehabilitated players, with 32 men undergoing treatment recently. A budget increase of nearly Rs 35 crore was allocated for injury management and rehabilitation. Soft-tissue injuries predominated among the cases, with notable players affected. Communication issues between Team India and the CoE's Sports Science Medicine team have been highlighted.
New Delhi: The Indian Board for Cricket's (BCCI) Centre of Excellence (CoE) injury management programme catered to a substantial number of top players in the year between April 2025 and March 2026, according to its annual report. A total of 32 men's team players, among them 20 BCCI centrally contracted players and 12 players under the new targeted/India 'A' category, underwent injury rehabilitation. The number of cases has surged post IPL 2026, with at least two players succumbing to injuries in each series.
The CoE's budget has been increased by nearly Rs 35 crore compared to the previous financial year's actual expenses. The CoE's projected expenses for the 2026-27 fiscal year are set at Rs 127 crore, up from Rs 92 crore in the previous year. The CoE's Sports Science Medicine (SSM) team treated and managed injuries for 68 players across genders, although the report does not specify the individual number of times each player visited the CoE.
The primary type of injuries was soft-tissue injuries, with the exception of Rishabh Pant, who underwent treatment for a foot fracture sustained during a Test in Manchester in July 2025. Rohit Sharma also received rehabilitation at the CoE for a hamstring injury following this year's IPL, although the BCCI never made an official statement about it.
Additionally, Virat Kohli, Varun Chakravarthy, Prince Yadav, and Harsh Dubey, among others, were among the latest Team India players added to the list of those requiring CoE rehabilitation. Jasprit Bumrah, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Hardik Pandya, and Prasidh Krishna have been repeat cases, with each spending at least four months at the CoE in the last 18 months.
There is a breakdown in communication between Team India's SSM team and the CoE's SSM team, with VVS Laxman acting as the sole medium of communication. The CoE's SSM team has been reluctant to deviate from its own mechanisms, despite suggestions for workload management routine tweaks from Team India strength and conditioning coach Adrian Le Roux. The CoE didn't conduct 15 of the 57 budgeted camps and tournaments in the last audited year.
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