4th Test at the Gabba, Brisbane, 15 - 19 Jan 2021

[Daemon]

I think it was a good decision to keep Ishant at home. If he came out of 14 days of quarantine, trained for a week and played a Test he’d no doubt break down again.

 

[Teja.]

Tbf, while I agree with the conditioning point, the injuries to Shami, Umesh and Jadeja were due to getting hit by short balls which can happen regardless of conditioning. Bumrah was also overbowled and is now being rested as a consequence of his workload due to those injuries.

 

[aussie tragic]

Australia has never lost after scoring >340 first bat at the Gabba...5-274 looking pretty good

 

[Prince EWS]

Did you just imply Thakur ascended to being Test standard

For one over, yes.

 

[Manee]

Sundar wouldn’t make the B attack.

And agreed - some tough questions need to be asked about India’s strength and conditioning program. This is insanity.

Agreed! And workload planning!

 

[Senile Sentry]

It’s not even our B attack because Sundar wasn’t anywhere near the Test side.

Nor Natarajan.

 

[silentstriker]

This is actually the most inexperienced Indian attack since 1933! Wow.

 

[Gob]

Jazzprit pulled a Vern I see

 

[Spark]

Jazzprit pulled a Vern I see

pulling an injury to bowl on a pitch that... suits him to the ground?

 

[Chrish]

Did Indian players forget their way to gym during quarantine? This is a valid question. When one side suffers these many injuries compared to the other, it cannot all be due to coincidence..

Things don’t add up here..

 

[stephen]

Did Indian players forget their way to gym during quarantine? This is a valid question. When one side suffers these many injuries compared to the other, it cannot all be due to coincidence..

Things don’t add up here..

Many of the guys got injured by bouncers (mostly by Cummins). Bumrah got overbowled because of those injuries. There's no huge conspiracy here. India have really just gotten unlucky with their bowlers on this tour. And the batting is pretty much all fit, except Vihari.

 

[Spark]

I do think the lack of conditioning is probably at play here, although I would personally look more at the lack of a proper pre-season or early FC season to ramp-up intensity as more the culprit here rather than the physios being incompetent.

 

[honestbharani]

One key difference is also that Australia got their Shield up and running before this series and all we had was the IPL. Like I said, a few long format games is still >> in terms of prep than a LOT of intense T20 games. If anything, the intensity of the IPL probably made these bowlers go all out a lot earlier than their bodies were ready for.

 

[honestbharani]

Many of the guys got injured by bouncers (mostly by Cummins).

Only 3, tbf. And honestly, 1 was a tailender, 1 was a freak incident. Jaddu was the only one who got hit but even that was not poor technique as much as slightly lethargic in dropping his hands and that fraction of a second made all the difference. And that was Starc.

 

[Chrish]

Many of the guys got injured by bouncers (mostly by Cummins). Bumrah got overbowled because of those injuries. There's no huge conspiracy here. India have really just gotten unlucky with their bowlers on this tour. And the batting is pretty much all fit, except Vihari.

Not saying they are faking it or anything. But I reckon they might not have done their part in maintaining shape in last 7 months..

 

[Window]

Tbf, while I agree with the conditioning point, the injuries to Shami, Umesh and Jadeja were due to getting hit by short balls which can happen regardless of conditioning. Bumrah was also overbowled and is now being rested as a consequence of his workload due to those injuries.

Umesh was not injured while batting I don't think. Pulled a calf muscle. Ishant, Umesh, Ashwin, Bumrah, Saini, Vihari, Rohit (first two tests) all have had muscle strain/fitness related injuries I believe. That's quite a lot.

 

[cnerd123]

When Covid hit India all gyms and and cricket nets/grounds were closed. Most of these guys will have only resumed some sort of training around the time of the IPL, or maybe a couple of weeks prior to it.

Plus simple strength and conditioning will not replicate the rigours of playing cricket. To be conditioned for cricket, you need to play cricket. There has been a lack of long form cricket for these guys and it's showing.

Having said that, I'm sure more could have been done to get the squad in better shape for this series. Guys like Ashwin and Vihari especially seemed not up for it.

 

[honestbharani]

When Covid hit India all gyms and and cricket nets/grounds were closed. Most of these guys will have only resumed some sort of training around the time of the IPL, or maybe a couple of weeks prior to it.

Plus simple strength and conditioning will not replicate the rigours of playing cricket. To be conditioned for cricket, you need to play cricket. There has been a lack of long form cricket for these guys and it's showing.

Having said that, I'm sure more could have been done to get the squad in better shape for this series. Guys like Ashwin and Vihari especially seemed not up for it.

Ashwin looked totally fine till the first innings of Sydney and a back tweak could happen anywhere, really. The fast bowlers though seems to be a very clear workload related thing.

 

[Spark]

Ashwin looked totally fine till the first innings of Sydney and a back tweak could happen anywhere, really. The fast bowlers though seems to be a very clear workload related thing.

That's true but when batsmen start getting soft tissue injuries, you really can't explain that other than a lack of conditioning and match fitness for elite sport. You can't blame Vihari's busted hammy on excessive workload, for example.

 

[honestbharani]

That's true but when batsmen start getting soft tissue injuries, you really can't explain that other than a lack of conditioning and match fitness for elite sport. You can't blame Vihari's busted hammy on excessive workload, for example.

Oh Vihari and Pujara are very different cases. They did not even play the IPL. Should have been managed way better than they were. If anything, BCCI should have simply paid and had them train somewhere, if not in the UAE, with the India physios etc.