File photo of BCCI CoE head VVS Laxman© BCCI
Of late, the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) has grabbed the limelight for all the wrong reasons. The CoE houses training facilities and acts as a rehabilitation centre for centrally contracted cricketers. It also regularly conducts workshops for young cricketers. However, with injuries rocking Indian cricket of late, several reports have raised questions about why the CoE in Bengaluru has not been able to solve this long-standing issue. Recently, a report by PTI claimed that a glaring communication disconnect between the Centre of Excellence’s (CoE) sports science and medical team and the senior national men’s selection committee has come into sharp focus once again.
According to a TOI report, the CoE’s annual report showed that 32 top men’s team players (20 BCCI centrally contracted players and 12 players under a new targeted/India A category) underwent rehabilitation for injuries at the CoE between April 2025 and March 2026.
The report also stated that it “understands” there has been a “breakdown in communication between Team India’s Sports Science and Medicine (SSM) unit and the CoE’s SSM team, with cricket head VVS Laxman being the only medium of communication.”
“It has been learnt that Team India strength and conditioning (S&C) coach Adrian Le Roux suggested a few tweaks to workload-management routines in June 2025, while the CoE has been reluctant to deviate from its own mechanisms,” the report added.
Former India star Ravichandran Ashwin recently said there needs to be some accountability.
“I think the time has come to make separate teams for Tests, ODIs and T20Is. There might be cross-pollination of one or two players. I think somewhere down the line there has to be accountability for injury management of players,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
“I know that Varun Chakravarthy was at the NCA for the last three to four months. We were asking for permission for the TNPL, and they didn’t release him. He should have returned in a month, but he was there for two to three months.”
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