Laxman’s comments come amid scrutiny over the fitness status of several India players, including Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar and Sai Sudharsan, who are currently recovering from their respective injuries at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. By Tarkesh Jha August 9, 2026, 3:49:32 PM IST (Published)
BCCI Centre of Excellence chief VVS Laxman has defended the organisation’s injury management process, saying that cricketers cannot always be expected to meet prescribed recovery timelines as the human body does not function like a machine. Laxman’s comments come amid scrutiny over the fitness status of several India players, including Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar and Sai Sudharsan, who are currently recovering from their respective injuries at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. Speaking to select media at the CoE on Sunday, Laxman said that there was no question of blaming the facility for players taking longer than expected to recover. He also stressed that the coordination between the Centre of Excellence, team management and sports science staff is seamless.
“CoE is not just a rehab centre, but there are bigger roles to play for it in helping cricketers achieve excellence. So, we don’t like to use the term ‘blame’ (for injuries) because when you’re using that term, then you’re finding someone as a scapegoat,” Laxman said. “But there’s brilliant coordination between the CoE and the team management of both the teams (men and women) and the SSM staff of both the teams. So that communication is happening seamlessly,” he added. Laxman explained that the recovery timelines are based on expected progression but can change depending on how an athlete’s body responds to rehabilitation. “This is where I think it’s very important to understand that the guidelines and the timelines are given based on what you expect.
But it’s the human body. It is not a machine where the timelines will always be met,” he said. He added that a player’s workload is increased progressively throughout the rehabilitation process, from the initial diagnosis until the athlete is cleared to return to competition.
“So there’s a continuous process of understanding how a player is progressing and based on that, the load is increased. So that’s a process from the time they are diagnosed with the injury to the time they leave the CoE and declare fit,” Laxman explained.
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How does the BCCI CoE communicate player fitness? Laxman used the cases of Bumrah and Sudharsan to explain how the fitness assessment process works between the medical team and selectors. “Now you’re talking about Bumrah and Sai Sudarshan.
The process is that the selector reaches out to the CoE asking for the fitness status report and we collect it and send it to the selection committee chairman or chairperson in women’s selection committee with a copy to the head coach of both the teams and the BCCI,” he said. Both Bumrah and Sudharsan were initially included in India’s squad for the Sri Lanka Tests subject to fitness clearance. Bumrah was subsequently ruled out of the series, with Jammu and Kashmir pacer Auqib Nabi named as his replacement. Laxman said the CoE keeps selectors and team management informed if a player’s recovery does not progress as expected. “As I told before, we assess them, move them from one stage to the next stage and if the progression is slow, you communicate to the selection committee chairman and the head coach, which is happening seamlessly, and they understand that they’re not yet ready to participate in an international series,” he signed off.
Home Sports News ‘Cricketers are not machines’: VVS Laxman backs BCCI Centre of Excellence amid injury concerns
