Zaheer Khan's injury calls for better injury management in India

Zaheer Khan's injury now adds credibility to the questions posed by IPL critics on why dont this players get injured before IPL or why dont they need rest before IPL?

Why do this players have to rest only when tours like West Indies come?

Zaheer Khan, Sehwag, Gambhir and Harbhajan Singh are vital cogs of Indian team in any format and are few players who play all formats. Yet they played IPL throughout after a long season and a triumphant World Cup. 

They could have chosen to rest during the IPL and came back refreshed for one of the most critical season for Indian team overall. 

The faltering is seen in the England tour when every day a player is falling like pack of cards and India is struggling to place a first choice XI that could play to its reputation and save some pride before the damage is done. 

Tendulkar is very chosy for his tours and games. He picks up and plays games he wants. He plays entire IPL and doesnt even bother to complain that he has to spend time with his family or tour to England to watch Wimbledon. He voices his concerns only when the WI tour is around. 

Zaheer Khan played almost entire IPL before he got off citing injury.

Gambhir was captain of KKR and the screwed Khan made him play 14 games with an injured elbow, supposedly picked up during World Cup final. 

Sehwag was the only lone Daredevil in Delhi's flawed IPL campaign. He played 11 games with injury before he thought he couldnt play anymore. How much his absence has cost India in ODIs and Tests is pretty much visible.

The BCCI needs to manage players injuries rather than let do the players and physio decide when they are fit to play. Just having a diktat that when the players demand rest, they would be rested isnt going to work anymore. If India has to build up to its success in both formats of the game and continue its reign for long, the BCCI has to step in and decide whats important for players and whats not. BCCI owns cricket in India, the international series and the IPL too. So if some star players dont play IPL, the cash registers aint going to go down.

It has to manage the greedy franchisees who look no beyond the profit margins and cash registers from the IPL. For them the international cricket doesnt matter. Its time somebody steps in and decides to put in some players rotation policy which is effective and takes care of the international cricket effectively and also ensures most often than not, India fields its best available XI in crunch and marquee series.

Dravid's surprise selection in ODIs

Dravid's inclusion in the ODI team, which is nothing short of shocking and surprising is a move which is going to leave the fans and followers of India bamboozled. Dravid himself had given up on the ODIs long back and he himself said it came as a surprise to him after all the years. 

In last 4 years he had more of been a Test player and not so long ago he was almost retired from Tests too.  What prompted this move suddenly is unknown and mysterious as BCCI never explains its stands and selections. If Dravid was recalled based on his Test form in England, then thats a hysterical move. There is enough arsenal in the world champion team to beat England in its own backyard. Sehwag, Gambhir , Tendulkar, Kohli, Raina and MSD are good enough to give England ODI team a good drubbing. Besides England, the ODI team is lot poorer than England, the test team.

Dravid has said he would retire from the ODIs and T20s after this England tour. We thought he already had decided not to play the ODIs after being out of it for 4 years.  To me, it seems a move to bid farewell to the ODI avtaar of Dravid so that in the long term, nobody would blame BCCI that it gave a raw deal to its icon players. What logic is behind to pick Dravid in the T20 game is beyond understanding. Long long back he gave up T20Is a now suddenly he is back. 

I have utmost regard and respect for Dravid, the batsman in both formats of the game and his iconic achievements, his contribution to the team it is today. But I cringe when he is given the raw deal like in 2007 and then in 2009. This time he was bit more practical that he himself decided to give up the ODIs after the England tour. Else he certainly would have been dropped again for the home series against England, thats following next.......

The question is which spot would Dravid play in the ODI team? # 3 or his usual ODI spot of 5 ? How would he fit in the team which already boasts of a settled batting lineup? Would he replace Rohit Sharma who had a good outing in West Indies after the world cup? Or would he replace Raina? 

A lot of questions, but the best time to get answer to this would be when the ODIs come. But the bigger question is, if BCCI wants to give a farewell to the legends of Indian cricket in ODIs, then would they give one such chance to Laxman too may be in the ODI series in India ?