Reports | BCCI furious over NCA’s mismanagement of Ishant Sharma

National Cricket Academy (NCA) physio Ashish Kaushik has found himself in hot water after Ishant Sharma aggravated his ankle injury days before the second Test against New Zealand in Christchurch, one that effectively ruled the pacer out of the series. The 31-year-old pacer sustained a grade 3 tear in his ankle in January, whilst playing for his state side Delhi in the Ranji Trophy, and was expected to miss the New Zealand Tests, but made a miraculous recovery just days before the commencement of the first Test. 

Now, after Ishant aggravated his ankle injury prior to the second Test, the BCCI are set to be fuming over the NCA’s role in the same, with officials questioning how lead physio Ashish Kaushik declared the speedster ‘fit’ despite the Delhi physio initially stating that the injury would take no less than six weeks to fully heal. 

"Once Ishant was ruled out for six weeks by the Delhi team physio after his scan reports revealed Grade 3, how did Kaushik and the NCA team come to conclusion that three weeks is good enough for return to competitive cricket?," Times of India quoted a BCCI official as saying. 

Whilst the extent of Ishant’s injury is unknown, the pacer is expected to have inflamed his ankle once again which, in turn, might mean that the 31-year-old might potentially miss the start of the IPL. Ishant’s mismanagement is the third such case in the last three months of NCA mismanaging a pacer, after both Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar aggravated their injuries, due to which they are currently spending a lengthy time on the sidelines.