Praveen Kumar Latest Injury Concern for India on England Tour

It seems Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the Indian cricket team have plenty of injury concerns to contend with not only for the tour of England but looking in India’s immediate future, with Praveen Kumar becoming the latest to succumb to injury.

Praveen Kumar

The Indian cricket team lost Zaheer Khan on the first day of the first Test at Lord’s and uncertainty continued to revolve around the Indian spearhead till the eve of the third Test at Edgbaston when it was finally revealed that in addition to the hamstring strain from the first Test, Zaheer Khan would require ankle surgery that would put him out for four months including the time for rehabilitation.

While the Indian captain decided to take part of the bowling onus on himself during the first Test and thereby, copped some flak, since the second Test, Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar have been joined by Sreesanth, although the Indian bowling attack has continued to struggle to show the same incisiveness and ruthlessness with which the England cricket team operated.

However, there have encouraging signs from the bowlers although it would not be near enough to prevent England from securing the series 3-0 with the fourth Test at the Oval yet to be completed with England also becoming the no.1 Test team, a mantle they have taken away from India.

However, Praveen Kumar who has been the third highest wicket taker in the series after England’s Stuart Broad and James Anderson had no part to play in the fourth Test with R.P. Singh being drafted in. That had nothing to do with the thumb injury sustained by Praveen during batting but rather apparently an ankle injury he suffered during the third Test at Edgbaston for which he was administered treatment and the injury has been responding well according to the team manager.

But having seen how Zaheer Khan has broken, perhaps even as India have nothing to play for but pride but looking forth on assignments, the team is unwilling to risk Praveen Kumar who has been dropped because of injury from the fourth to make room for R.P. Singh who was named as Zaheer Khan’s replacement to step in.

Incidentally Rudra Pratap Singh received the call up but was held back because of visa clearance issues and while his selection has raised eyebrows in that he has not played Test cricket in over three years, that he has been given the nod by the skipper ahead of Munaf Patel who was in the original Indian squad for England is perhaps an indication of faith of the captain in some players over others, which also begs the question of merit in selecting Munaf Patel if he was not going to be considered as worthy enough of being played in the series if the need was necessitated as was the case now.

For Praveen Kumar, the injury is an impediment because he also missed out on the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 due to an elbow injury and only made his Test debut during India’s tour of the West Indies. It is clear India need injury management because with the number of breakdowns, it will be hard for India to regain the top spot in the ICC Test rankings if their bowlers, instead of showing improvements, keep breaking down.