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Cracked digit puts Sri out of Challenger

It is never easy to be doctor of the Indian team. More so when the collective fitness is obviously abysmal.

You tend to get the flak and if, like Dr Ravindra Chaddha, you have just been a selector (he was part of the panel chaired by G R Vishwanath, alongside present coach Anshuman Gaekwad), it is widely believed that you have used your good offices to land a cushy job after your selectorial term expired.

"I must correct you here," says Chaddha right at the outset. "I am not the physical trainer of the team. I am just a doctor, who is here to look after the injury part of the cricketers."

It is an important distinction, and one which deserves attention. Meanwhile, for cricket afficionadoes, the bad news is that Javagal Srinath is out of the NKP Challenger Series starting October 15, because of injury and not for the reasons the BCCI had put out. "He was hit on the little finger while fielding on the third afternoon," said Dr Chadha. "There is a minor fracture in this left finger of his, and he is out for the Challenger series."

Chadha's concerns are limited to injuries and diet of the cricketers. What diet does he think are required for a fast bowler compared to say a spinner or a batsman?

"Out of the calories required for a cricketer for a day, 60 to 65 per cent is carbohydrates, 20-25 per cent is fat and only 10 per cent is protein," says Chadha. "So the sress is on carbohydrate in take. There is no need for extra protein because we are not dealing with wrestlers, there is not so much of wear and tear of muscles in the case of cricketers.

"What I prescribe for a fast bowler is a six-seven toasts with jam, cornflakes, at breakfast, at lunch it is rice, potatoes and lot of fluids. The batsmen also need it, but at a lesser level. As for bowlers, for someone like Anil Kumble, the expending of the energy is as much as that of a fast bowler. So the same applies for him. As for somebody like a wicketkeeper, Nayan Mongia, we try to give him as much bananas as possible, during the breaks, so that his energy level is constantly high," says Chaddha.

Injuries remind one of Saurav Ganguly and his hamstring problem. "It is a fallacy to suggest that he injured his hamstring during the Sahara Cup in Toronto in September," says the doctor. "Nobody who has a hamstring injury can recover so quickly as to play three matches in the next eight days -- and continue to do so on this tour.

"I feel it is an old hamstring problem that is troubling Saurav. What happens with hamstring injuries is that when the new muscle fibres replace the old ones, they are not as elastic, they start to twitch from time to time.

"In this case, I have advised Saurav to increase the stretching of his leg muscles," says Dr Chadha. "The good thing is Saurav is very conscious about his fitness and is already devoting time to stretching exercises."

And what about Srinath's operated shoulder? "It is much better. The injury didn't happen in my tenure, but I am maintaining a complete file on him. As it is, Srinath has shown a rare determination to overcome the injury without sacrificing his pace. He knew he needed to make sacrifices and he did exactly that," says Chadha.

It was said, when the Australians toured here, that Javagal Srinath had not disclosed his side-strain and even though he missed the third Test at Bangalore, he was played in the first one-day international of the Pepsi Triangular Series. "That is wrong," says Chadha. "Before the Cochin match, we did ask Srinath to bowl flat out in the nets and he did so without any discomfort. We felt he was fit enough for the game.

"For a fast bowler like Srinath, what happens is that when he bends back and then comes forward at the point of delivery, his side rib muscles can get interlocked. It can happen to anybody but fast bowlers are more prone to it. Even now, Srinath needs to do the appropriate stretching exercises of his torso to keep those muscles flexible," is the verdict.

One also remembers Rahul Dravid in extreme pain when hit on a right finger during the early part of his hundred in the Harare Test. What attention did he require? "Dravid was hit on the finger but fortunately, I was able to put elastoplast on it in time. If you don't do it in time, then the finger swells up and there is a blood clot. It becomes difficult for a batsman to continue batting in such a situation. The elastoplast worked, there was no swelling and Dravid could bat long enough to get to his century," says Chadha.

Ask him about the pressures that injury brings with it, and he takes off. "As somebody who has been a cricketer before (Chadha led Haryana in over 70 Ranji ties), and also a selector, I know that apprehension is uppermost in a cricketer's mind whenever an injury occurs. `Would I be fit again? Would I be fit in time? If I don't recover in time will somebody else grab my place?'

"All these thoughts are there for the cricketer. Hence, I treat the apprehension fast. If a cricketer has to be told that he will be out of the game for a week, I tell him so. There is no point in keeping him in dark and increasing his insecurity."

Chadha is convincing as he talks of how he is taking care of our cricketers, so how come they still look so unfit on the field of play? "They are improving, but all this comes under Andrew Kokinos' purview," says Chadha. "Of course, both of us co-ordinate, since our work is inter-related.

"If a cricketer's fitness is improved, it means he is less prone to injury," he explains. "Some signs are common. For a cricketer fielding in the deep, he has to have a good sprint. Naturally, if he is sprinting, it is his legs - knees and ankles - which are his weight-carriers and hence they need to be properly taken care of. A short man would usually have a problem with a protruding tummy. His weight, at all times, must be kept in check.

"The simple fact is, fitness and injury go hand in hand. Both aspects must be treated as co-related. Only then will the cricketers be able to perform at their optimum level. That is what Andrew (Kokinos) and I are trying to achieve."