Moments after formally taking over as the first World Cup-winner as the elected president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Roger Binny stressed on improving the Indian cricketers’ injury prevention mechanism.
“I want to primarily focus on two things. First is the prevention of injuries to the players. Jasprit Bumrah got injured just before the World Cup, which affects the whole plan,” Binny said in his first official interaction as the BCCI president, minutes after the conclusion of the 91st annual general meeting of the Board.
“Second, I want to focus on the pitches in the country. The wickets in India should be lively, so when we go overseas, it helps our players.”
The media interaction of the new BCCI office-bearers saw Jay Shah, the secretary, taking centrestage and vice-president Rajeev Shukla briefing about the major decisions at the AGM.
Interestingly, everyone in attendance, including the BCCI office-bearers and mediapersons, was refrained from using recording devices.
Bumrah’s injury ahead of the T20 World Cup is the latest case in a spree of conspicuous player breakdowns ahead of major international cricket assignments. Binny, with an impeccable record and reputation of a reliable all-rounder, didn’t hold himself back in his wish to improve the scenario.
“We will look to improve on what we can do to reduce the injury to players. Players getting frequently injured is a concern and we wish to get to the bottom of it all and see how it can be changed for the better,” Binny said.
“We have to sit down and discuss what’s going wrong. We have excellent doctors and trainers at the National Cricket Academy, but we have to look to reduce the injuries and improve recovery.”
Binny also stressed on improving the quality of pitches in domestic cricket. “We need to develop the pitches in India,” he said. “There needs to be more life in the wickets at home, so that our teams would not have the problem of adjusting when travelling abroad, like in Australia where there is more pace and bounce.”
Other major decisions
Besides the unopposed election of office-bearers and IPL governing council members, the AGM finalised the following:
BCCI office-bearers were authorised to nominate BCCI’s representative to the International Cricket Council and reconstitute Cricket Advisory Committee
Men’s and women’s Future Tours Programme (FTP) were approved for 2023-2027 and 2022-2025, respectively. As a result, India’s men’s team will play 38 Tests, 42 ODIs and 61 T20Is, besides the World events till March 2027.
Women’s Indian Premier League was approved in principle, with the five-team inaugural edition to be staged in March 2027.
The annual accounts for 2021-22 was ratified.
