The disastrous tour of England has brought the rot, the wrinkles and problems in Indian cricket to the fore.
The spate of injuries which saw the Indian team lose nine players has raised many questions.
Can't we find eleven fit players? What will happen when stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag leave the stage? Don't we have a strong bench? Isn't the BCCI grooming youngsters properly? What's happening at the National Cricket Academy?
But talking to Sandeep Patil, the Director of the NCA, one gets the feeling that the BCCI is not using its bench strength properly.
“We have a terrific bench strength. Unfortunately, players are sitting on the bench. You know, the bench is not tested,” said Patil, one of the heroes of India's 1983 World Cup triumph, at the Tripunithura Palace Oval here on Sunday.
“It's not our job, it's not our responsibility,” he said when asked why the bench strength is not being tried out efficiently. “Our responsibility at the NCA is to help, have camps, support them, look after the injury management. The selection part is done by the selectors and the BCCI. We don't interfere in that department.”
People who are pointing fingers at the NCA are being unfair, he said.
“When India won the World Cup (its second in the one-dayers recently), nobody even thought of the NCA,” said the 55-year-old who was a tower of strength in the middle-order for many years.
“Now, once, when India has done badly, everybody is pointing fingers at it. As the Director, I am very happy with the way the NCA is functioning. We are in touch with the BCCI on a day-to-day basis. We are in touch with all our 35 academies which come under the NCA.
“We have a big pool of players…unfortunately, only 11 represent the country, there are another 30 lined up. When they are given a chance, when they are given their due, it's for the selectors to decide.”
Patil, however, declined to comment on the injury problems in Indian cricket.
“I can't speak …that's confidential… I can't speak about Indian cricket and injuries,” he said.
