Women’s T20 WC: ‘Visionary thinking needed’, says Anjum Chopra on recurring injuries to all-rounders

New Delhi, June 12 (IANS) With India leaning on a five-bowler combination for the 2026 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup due to injuries to key seam-bowling all‑rounders Amanjot Kaur and Kashvee Gautam, former captain Anjum Chopra has said that ‘visionary thinking’ is needed to manage their loads more effectively.

The absence of Amanjot due to a back injury has already hurt the team’s balance, with their bowling combination still having an unsettled look. Meanwhile, Kashvee and fellow seam-bowling all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar, who has spent most of the last two years at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (COE) and is currently in action in the MP Women’s T20 League, have also battled extended injury layoffs.

“See, injuries basically, it can happen to anyone. It doesn’t come calling. But obviously, for a player who is coming out of an injury, CoE gives a ready-to-play certificate once they feel that the player is ready after doing the rehab and completing all the formalities – once they give it and once you walk into a team, then as a player, normally you don’t hold yourself back.

“You try to start from where you actually finished before you picked up the injury. So there are no half measures in it. But the body does not know that. It takes time to acclimatise, get back into that fluency, and gain that strength. Now, in this middle phase or period, there will be some times when a player obviously requires assistance, rest, and a lower workload.

“People are obviously well qualified who are there with the teams. They come in from the Centre of Excellence. So they know exactly what’s happening. I’m hoping there is good communication between the CoE and the ones who are handling the players in the present team, that is, the physios and trainers. So if that fluency is there, then it just needs to be managed very well,” Anjum told IANS in an exclusive conversation ahead of India starting its T20 World Cup campaign against Pakistan at Edgbaston on Sunday.

Amanjot had missed out on a lot of cricketing action in 2024 due to a stress fracture in her back and a hand ligament tear. She returned strongly in the 2025 WPL and played a key role in India’s triumphant ODI World Cup campaign, despite needing treatment for minor flare-ups at the CoE. But a back injury and its ongoing recovery meant Amanjot was unavailable for the T20 World Cup, to be played in England from Friday till July 5.

Kashvee, meanwhile, was ruled out of the entire WPL 2024 season due to a severe foot injury. In 2025, she suffered a leg injury while playing in the ODI tri-series in Sri Lanka, with scans later revealing that it was a severe right knee injury. During the T20 World Cup squad announcement press conference, it was announced that Kashvee was ruled out due to a right knee issue needing surgery.

This situation has raised wider concerns over the fitness and longevity of India’s premium seam-bowling all-rounders. “With the kind of workload that Amanjot Kaur or even Kashvee Gautam has, they are running around the park for 40 overs – either they are bowling, they are batting, or they are fielding, and that is what you expect from players like them.

“But somebody who is coming out of an injury back-to-back, playing matches or lesser time to recover, or maybe playing with a niggle, which can happen to anybody – I guess it’s just about understanding how better managed these injuries can be.

“If somebody requires rest, should they be given or should they be pushed to go and do a drill which can be avoided? So, I mean, to be fair, I wouldn’t know the exact part. But all I know is that if a player is valuable, then she or he needs to be nurtured, protected, and preserved as well,” added Anjum.

The buzz within the cricketing circles has been that when a player is declared fully fit, it takes time to regain full intensity at the international level, and it must be factored in while managing their return to playing or even the loads they are put through on match and non-match days.

According to those aware of the developments, instead of managing for the long term, the pacers and all-rounders are pushed to bowl much more overs than planned in practice, with recovery periods cut short, resulting in overload.

The buzz within the circuit has also pointed to a lack of consistency in load management, with decisions around the number of overs bowled in practice sessions decided on whims and fancies rather than a sorted structure. Many experts have claimed that this has led to recurring injuries, which have depleted the pool of seam-bowling all‑rounders and, in turn, have hurt the side in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup.

A well-placed source told IANS that the responsibility of managing players rests with the team management rather than the CoE, as the team management has the discretion to decide whom to push and whom to rest – depending on the roles assigned to the squad members.

The source added that recurring injuries place accountability on the team management, as they have access to all the relevant data, while pointing out that the blame has often been shifted to external people or support staff. The source also stressed that it is the head coach and team management who must ultimately take ownership of decisions made in handling players.

“It’s because you don’t want an Indian team (to lose an asset like them). Like today, we are talking about an all-rounder, and we don’t have both the all-rounders with the Indian team, especially Amanjot Kaur, and it really has hurt India. While she was there in the 50-over World Cup, it is hurting India now as they go for the T20 World Cup.

“So, I guess a little bit more visionary thinking and proper planning can be done. I am sure it would be done at that level also. But because the result doesn’t say so, that’s why we are talking about the fact that I wish it were better handled,” concluded Anjum.

–IANS

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