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Sports

BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia set to meet VVS Laxman at CoE amid injury crisis

hellohimachalse@gmail.com 08 Aug 2026 2 hours ago

New Delhi: is grappling with an injury crisis ahead of the crucial two-match Test series against Sri Lanka. Concerned with the situation, the secretary Devajit Saikia will meet Head of Cricket VVS Laxman on Sunday to review the rehabilitation management programme at the Centre of Excellence (COE), reports PTI.

The Men in Blue will be missing several key players with injuries, including pacer Jasprit Bumrah (knee swelling), batter B Sai Sudharsan (left foot big toe), fast bowler Harshit Rana (hamstring), all-rounders Nitish Kumar Reddy (hamstring) and Washington Sundar (quadriceps). Akash Deep has also been out for the longest time since Bengal’s loss in the Ranji Trophy semi-final.

Adding to this list, white-ball specialists Hardik Pandya (quadriceps), Varun Chakravarthy (hamstring) and Prince Yadav (hamstring) are also at the Centre of Excellence (CoE). The Sports Science team at the CoE is currently working without a head after Nitin Patel resigned in early 2025.

“Yes, secretary Saikia will be in Bengaluru to take a stock of the situation along with VVS Laxman. There is a meeting scheduled between the two. It is not known whether head coach of national team Gautam Gambhir or chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar will join online or not. It will be interesting if both Saikia and Laxman can front up and answer a few media queries with so many conjectures,” a BCCI source in the know told PTI on condition of anonymity.

COE, selectors not in sync over injury management timeline

The CoE and the current selection panel have never been in sync with regard to the injury management timelines. According to a PTI report, some of the players were released before they got fully fit. The matter of Harshit Rana joining the team in England after being distinctly overweight has not gone down well with the senior selection committee.

The selectors were also initially made to believe that Bumrah and Sudarshan would be at least available for one of the two Test matches against Sri Lanka.

Later, it was revealed that Bumrah was experiencing water retention in his knee following the injury, which requires more time to heal. Sudharsan had been batting for 75 minutes a day for some time, but the pain in his big toe persisted. All-rounder Nitish Reddy tried to increase his pace by 7 to 8 kmph, which put pressure on his hamstring and quadriceps.

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