Mysterious Injuries

It is the season of mysterious ailments in Indian cricket as it is every so often.

First there was the whole Ashish Nehra episode. It is said that he was too lazy to play the Test matches and hence feigned the injury. Then instead of going to South Africa for repairs as per the advice of the coach he went to England. Then he made a cameo surprise visit to the Mumbai Flop-show for undisclosed reasons. And just to make matters more intriguing he is still not fit enough to participate in the Challenger series.

Then there is the case of Anil Kumble. There was no inkling of any sort of injury until the end of Zimbabwe; but now suddenly he is apparently advised four weeks rest from some speculative reports. What is the truth behind all this ? Are the selectors convinced that Kumble has no future in ODI cricket and Kumble otherwise ? Is this the reason why this facade of injury is going on ? Or is there some even deeper meaning attached to it ?

Most intriguing however is the injury to Sourav Ganguly who is reported to be suffering from his own version of tennis elbow. This after the whole affair in which feigning injury was a specific point - in fact the only one that was comprehensively and emphatically dismissed by the hilarious Ranbir Singh Mahendra !! But wait it gets better. In a discussion I was involved in on Prem Panicker's blog someone actually said that SG retiring in the practice match at Mutare after being hit on the arm might have been a precaution against tennis elbow !! Also, tangentially Chuckster in his blog wonders whether in fact this was all preplanned at the Mumbai flop-show where GC would have his way after all - SG not play due to 'injury' and be spared a humiliating sacking in lieu of the services he has offered !! Well well it is indeed a brain-teaser this one !!

The immediate problem I see is that if SG does not play the Challenger (as is also speculated) who will lead the seniors side ? VS and RD are not there of course !! Nor is AK. So will it be SRT who is on a comeback trail ? Or will it be the Gen-next idols Mohammd Kaif or Irfan Pathan ? Either way it promises to be one interesting choice.

The other problem is that I had braced myself up for enthusiastically supporting the India A side led by The Boss VVS Laxman. I badly wanted to see SG lose the series, lose face !! Now who will I support ??