The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to make many recruitments for the Sports Science and Sports Medicine (SSSM) team, led by Nitin Patel. The national team will soon have new physios and strength and conditioning coaches.
The recruitments will be made for India’s men’s and women’s teams, the junior men’s and women’s teams and ‘A’ teams. There will also be dedicated ‘rehab specialists’, who will be working on injury management.
There will be two categories for recruitment. Category 1 will consist of working with the senior men’s and women’s teams, while Category 2 will work with junior cricketers and domestic cricketers.
One of the major aspects mentioned by the BCCI in its job description is "Dealing with players who may be non-compliant or non-motivated regarding injury prevention and performance enhancement programmes."
Earlier, the world’s richest cricket board has had to deal with issues where players didn’t take their rehabilitation seriously after getting injured. They would generally go to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore for their rehabilitation process.
But after MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli’s appointment as captains, the fitness levels of Indian cricketers have gone up drastically. Going forward, Nitin Patel will have the tough task of leading a big team for the betterment of Indian cricket.
BCCI makes a detailed job profile for SSSM hiring
Several Team India and NCA staff members are expected to reapply and get into the system. The last date for application is March 9.
"The BCCI is committed to providing a high-performance environment for its athletes. As a part of a developing Sports Science & Sports Medicine (SSSM) team the S&C Coach will play a key role in contributing and providing support to players both on and off the field to enhance their performance," the job description states.
"The candidate will be an integral part of a multidisciplinary team providing optimal injury management & injury prevention services to athletes contracted with BCCI as National team representatives or select members from," the job description further stated.
The Indian cricket team is currently in Mohali where they are preparing for the opening Test against Sri Lanka at the PCA Stadium in Mohali. The game is also Kohli’s 100th outing in Test cricket.