Reports: Wriddhiman Saha to undergo surgery; could miss Australia series

The BCCI posted the timeline of Saha’s injury on their website. It said that the Bengal stumper reported to the NCA on January 29 after the South Africa tour, with pain in the upper left hamstring and simultaneously complained of pain in his right shoulder. An MRI scan in February revealed a ‘labral tear’ and Saha was given an ‘ultrasound guided injection’ on the advice of Dr Srikanth Narayanaswamy, a sports physician. The BCCI advisory added that following the injection and a rehabilitation process at the NCA, Saha was discharged on March 19, having fully recovered from his hamstring and shoulder injuries. He went on to play the IPL for Sunrisers Hyderabad, but on May 7, he fell twice on his shoulder jarring the joint. Another round of treatment followed under the supervision of his IPL physio and a second Ultrasound guided injection was administered. Saha was rested for the next five IPL games, as he underwent rehab under the care of the franchise and after his condition improved, he returned to the IPL.

During this period, Saha visited the NCA head physio, Ashish Kaushik, who concluded that its presentation was similar to how it had been in late January/early February following the assessment of the cricketer’s right shoulder. Kaushik informed the SRH physio about his assessment and the rehab continued. The Indian team physio (Patrick Farhart) too, was informed of this sequence of events. On May 25, however, Saha sustained a right thumb fracture after being hit by a Shivam Mavi ball. Three days later, accompanied by the Team India physio, he consulted Dr Sudhir Warrier, who concluded that the thumb injury didn’t require surgery. The BCCI release said, “At this time, he complained of no shoulder pain or stiffness.”

On July 6, following a consultation with Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, a Mumbai-based orthopaedic surgeon, ‘another steroid injection’ was advised to assist recovery. Dr Pardiwala also said that surgery would be necessary, should the injury not respond to the injection. After five days of rehab, when Saha’s condition didn’t improve, he was declared unfit on the 13th of July and the India team management was informed of the same.