Former India captain Chandu Borde feels a cricketer should himself take a call on his injury as he himself knows his body the best. Borde said even before the assessment of an injury from the physio, a player can himself judge better whether he is fit to play or not.
Published: Jun 02, 2011, 07:38 PM (IST)
Edited: Jun 02, 2011, 07:38 PM (IST)
Gautam Gambhir’s injury sparked the club vs country debate © AFP
Pune: Jun 2, 2011
Former India captain Chandu Borde feels a cricketer should himself take a call on his injury as he himself knows his body the best. Borde said even before the assessment of an injury from the physio, a player can himself judge better whether he is fit to play or not.
Borde’s comments came as Gautam Gambhir aggravated his shoulder injury by playing in IPL and had to skip national team’s tour to the West Indies. “You must know your body at the top level. A player does not need to be told about his injury by anyone. How can a player say that a physio did not inform him about his injury. How can you take the field if you are not feeling fully fit. “Every player comes to know whenever he is injured. A cricketer should know how bad his injury is and then take a decision accordingly,” Borde said.
The 76-year-old also said if a cricketer plays despite having injury, it can jeopardise his career. “Injuries are a concern. It is true that a lot of players carry on playing despite having an injury. But this is harmful for their careers. They must think about their future,” said Borde on the sidelines of a convention of the Sports Journalist Federation of India (SJFI) here last night.
Meanwhile, heaping praise on the current Indian team, which won the World Cup for India after 28 years, Borde said it is a “tremendous achievement”.
“Although the One-day side is not that experienced but has some really talented cricketers under an able leader in Mahendra Singh Dhoni,” said the cricketer, who played 55 Tests.
“Presence of youngsters as well as stalwarts like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman in the Test team makes it a good unit,” he added.
Borde, however, refused to compare the two World Cup victories — the 1983 and 2011.
“I don’t like to make comparisons. You cannot really compare as the two World Cups were played under different conditions. While Kapil Dev’s team played on foreign soil (in England), this time India played on their own soil. In 1983 no one expected the team to win but this time everyone almost knew that India would win. The current side I would say deserves to be called the best ever as it is already the number one Test side and has also won the World Cup in ODIs,” he said.
When asked whether he would rate Kapil Dev or Dhoni as a better captain, Borde said, “Kapil was an instant decision taker. He would always take a decision according to the situation.
“Dhoni, on the other hand is very calm and cool. His movements and decisions are thoughtful and calculated. He doesn’t get affected by anything, at least he doesn’t show. And that is a great quality. It does not help the players when they see their captain under pressure. So, that is a great quality,” he explained.
Borde begged to differ from the popular view that shorter version of the game is killing Test cricket. “Because of the One-dayers, there have been improvisation of shorts in Test cricket as well. The fielding has become very good and in all, the standard of the game had improved vastly,” he said.
© PTI
