India vs Australia | MSK Prasad contradicts Ravi Shastri’s claims on Ravindra Jadeja’s injury

Ravi Shastri, in one of his press interactions in Melbourne, stated that Jadeja was only "70-80 per cent fit" in the lead-up to the Perth Test, which led to a number of uncomfortable questions for the team management. While people questioned if India missed a trick by not playing Jadeja on the green Perth pitch, where Nathan Lyon walked away as the man-of-the-match, Shastri took pot-shot at the team's perceived detractors, for "firing blanks" from "millions of miles away". 

That forced the BCCI to issue a clarification late in the evening on the same day, which stated that Jadeja was not fully fit when he was selected for the tour and also carried a niggle while playing for Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy. While Saurashtra coach Sitanshu Kotak first denied the claims, now MSK Prasad revealed that Jadeja was "fully fit" when he was selected in the team.

"On the eve of any selection meeting, the selection committee is given a fitness report of all the players. In that report, Jadeja was absolutely fit. So we picked him. After we picked him, he went and played Ranji Trophy also, he bowled 60 overs [64, against Railways]. So there is no question of him being unfit at the time of selection,” Prasad was quoted as saying by Cricinfo.

Shastri had then said that Jadeja had taken an injection just before he flew to Australia, and four days after landing in the country. He also reasoned that the spinner was not available for selection in the Perth Test as he was only 70-80% fit. While Jadeja has now been named in the Boxing Day Test squad, Prasad was non-committal about the injection things. 

"Yes, it is a process. Whenever a health issue comes up, we have a group in which it is being placed. All that is looked after by the physio, and they have very clearly given it in the statement," Prasad said.

While BCCI released a media statement on December 23 saying Jadeja was given injections on November 2 and November 30, the fact is whenever the BCCI updated the media on the fitness status of players, Jadeja was never on the list, rather he fielded as substitute for more than 55 overs in Perth alone. He even bowled in the nets for substantial times and last but not the least, he was included in the 13-man squad for the Perth Test.