NCA have a few contingency plans in place, reveals Rahul Dravid
NCA director Rahul Dravid has revealed that players' health remains the top priority for the National Cricket Academy and they have a contingency plan in place for the lost time. Dravid has also added that NCA physio Ashish Kaushik and his team had workshops with physios of all domestic teams.
While summertime has always been one of the busiest months for the National Cricket Academy to facilitate training for U-19 and Women's teams, it has now been taken away due to the nation-wide lock-down. While it surely has acted as a detriment to the growth of the cricketers, Rahul Dravid revealed that they have a contingency plan in place.
"It is best to wait and watch. There are much larger things at play and the future is uncertain. All our camps for the summer, which is a busy time for NCA, have had to be put on hold. The monsoon which arrives in most parts of India from June will add to the challenges. We do have a few contingency plans in place. Safety is a priority for everyone right now. Once things become clearer, we will be able to react. I guess that's true of all sport in the world," Dravid told ToI.
One of the important disruptions to have happened to the NCA management was to track injuries and fitness levels, with players not having access to gyms. Dravid stated that the state team physios have gone about collecting medical and injury-related data of a lot of state cricketers in accordance with the training from NCA Physio Ashish Kaushik.
"Ashish (Kaushik, NCA physio) and his team had workshops with physios of all domestic teams during the Vijay Hazare (Trophy) earlier in the season. After that, they have gone about collecting medical and injury-related data of a lot of state cricketers. The communication pipeline that has been set up will allow us to track players and manage injuries better.
"Additionally, every injury is reviewed from a point of view of protocols followed, timelines met in terms of recovery and relapse, if any. We are aware that we are in such a competitive environment now that injuries will be put through the scanner, therefore having good process is key. We have been working well towards that," Dravid added.