During his three-year tenure at the NCA, during which he reported to Indian batting great VVS Laxman, former Mumbai Indians physiotherapist Nitin Patel was tasked with overseeing injury and workload management and rehabilitating both international and domestic cricketers.
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In a blow for the BCCI’s recently-inaugurated Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru, physiotherapist Nitin Patel has decided to resign as the head of its Sports Science wing. According to a report on Cricbuzz, Patel is expected to check out of the Bengaluru-based facility, formerly known as the National Cricket Academy (NCA), but the end of March, with the BCCI expected to put out an advertisement for his replacement soon.
During his three-year tenure at the NCA, during which he reported to Indian batting great VVS Laxman, Patel was tasked with overseeing injury and workload management and rehabilitating both international and domestic cricketers.
Patel oversaw the rehabilitation of key cricketers including pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami as well as middle-order batters KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer. Before joining the NCA, he had served as physiotherapist to the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Before that, he had served as the physio for the Indian cricket team for eight years between 2007 and 2015, replacing John Gloster in the role.
Revisiting highs and lows of Nitin Patel’s NCA tenure
Among the highlights of Patel’s tenure since his appointment as head of the Sports Science wing in 2022 was to get both Iyer and Bumrah fit and ready for the 2023 ICC World Cup after a long injury break.
Iyer had missed KKR’s campaign in IPL 2023 as well as the World Test Championship final due to a back injury that at one point even looked career-ending to him. Despite being in crucial pain, he was able to make a comeback in the nick of time during the Asia Cup that preceded the World Cup.
Bumrah, meanwhile,
had returned to action in the T20I tour of Ireland in August after an 11-month absence from all forms of the game due to a back injury. The star bowler, who has had quite the injury prone career so far, had undergone a surgery in March that year and was able to recover in time to feature in India’s World Cup campaign, where he was among the top performers and played an important role in the Men in Blue’s dominant run to the final.
Patel had also overseen Rahul’s recovery that year after the wicketkeeper-batter had suffered a hamstring injury during Lucknow Super Giants’ home game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The severity of the injury could be ascertained from the fact that he had to undergo a surgery on the affected area. Like Iyer,
Rahul also returned to action at the Asia Cup and was a key performer in the World Cup.
Another high profile case during this period was Rishabh Pant, who had a miraculous escape from a
horrific car accident in December 2022 that sidelined him until the IPL last year. Pant was perhaps the most challenging case of them all for Patel and his team as the wicketkeeper-batter had to undergo a
rigorous 14-month rehabilitation at the NCA, during which he had been experiencing excruciating pain in the initial months.
Patel was responsible for helping Mohammed Shami – the top-wicket-taker in the 2023 World Cup – recover from an ankle injury that he had suffered during the tournament. The Bengal pacer would not play any form of cricket for a year after the
World Cup final against Australia in Ahmedabad, undergoing an ankle surgery in London three months later and checking into the NCA later that year, missing the IPL and the T20 World Cup along the way.
The Shami saga
It was in the latter half of the year, however, when the NCA began to face some criticism from former cricketers as well as for fans. Shami was expected to make his return for the Indian team during the home Test season that began with a two-match series against Bangladesh, after he proved his fitness in the domestic circuit.
The pacer, however, wouldn’t make his competitive return until November during the Ranji Trophy, at which point his chances of featuring in the marquee five-Test series in Australia had already dried up. The Bengaluru-based centre faced even more flak after
Shami was not included in the Australia-bound squad after developing a swelling on his left knee during his rehabilitation.
Even skipper Rohit wasn’t pleased with the manner in which the NCA was handling Shami’s case. “It’s high time somebody from NCA talks about him. Really, that’s our National Cricket Academy where he is doing his rehab. Those guys are the ones who need to come up and give us some kind of update,” the ‘Hitman’ had said at a press conference after the conclusion of the third Test at The Gabba, at which point Shami’s last-minute inclusion in the series was still being discussed.
At the time of his resignation, Patel was looking after Bumrah’s road to recovery ahead of the 18th season of the IPL. Bumrah had suffered a back spasm during the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney, which later became a major fitness concern that ruled him out of the limited-overs series against England as well as the Champions Trophy.