Shukla promises better injury management

In the light of the injury crisis India found themselves in on the tour of England, the BCCI has said it will remain in close contact with the IPL franchises to ensure players remain fit for national duty.

"During our meeting with franchises we will emphasise that they pay most attention to these problems and give instruction to the team physios on injury management to avoid injuries," the new IPL commissioner Rajiv Shukla told PTI. "We will be paying full attention to these problems, we will keep in touch with physios, and various franchises so that any injury should be immediately addressed."

On a disastrous tour, where they were thrashed 4-0 in Tests and 3-0 in ODIs, India lost the services of Zaheer Khan on the first day of the first Test at Lord's. After playing in the IPL, Virender Sehwag was ruled out of the first two Tests due to an injured shoulder while Gautam Gambhir, Praveen Kumar and Yuvraj Singh sustained injuries during the course of the series.

Shukla defended the IPL, saying it shouldn't be singled out for blame for injuries caused to players, but said the board will take steps to ensure there is "perfect" co-ordination with the franchises over the players' fitness.

"In my view, for injuries I don't think only IPL should be blamed as every team is facing such problems and lot many players got injured during the England series also, so I don't think IPL should be solely blamed for it," he said. "But at the same time, the management of injury problems is also on our mind and some concrete steps will be taken to minimise injury problems. There will be perfect coordination between BCCI and various franchises."