NEW DELHI: In a bid to keep the BCCI’s centrally contracted players in prime form skill wise, the Centre of Excellence (CoE) has launched a programme called the performance block. TOI understands that this programme has opened the doors for the international players to sharpen their cricketing skills at any point of the year besides being an integral part of a player’s return-to-play process after injury.Sources told TOI that Hardik Pandya has opted to go for the performance block instead of pushing to get fit for the ODI series in England. Harshit Rana is the first player to have declared completely fit under this programme.“The CoE was largely a rehab centre for international cricketers. The cricketing programmes were restricted to age-group and zonal camps. Now, India players can come at any time and have very specialised sessions to work on minute things in their game. There will be a dedicated coaching staff working with the players. Also, under this programme, an injured player can only be cleared as fit to play for India if he is playing to his potential,” a BCCI source told TOI.Earlier, an injured player used to be cleared clinically after going through some match simulation sessions. Often, the CoE didn’t have a quality pool of players to play these simulation matches.Hardik is now the first big name to go through this new programme. The selection committee and the team management are concerned about Hardik’s ability to bowl 10 overs in an ODI. He was reportedly bowling 10 overs at the CoE in the first week of June before he suffered quadriceps injury on June 9. The timeline given for his recovery was three weeks, which would have been the end of June or first week of July. The selectors named the team on Sunday without considering Hardik. “Hardik is very clear in his mind that he won’t take the field for India unless at the top of his game—both physically and cricket wise. He doesn’t want to push himself and jeopardise his body with the ODI World Cup 16 months away. He contacted CoE and joined the performance block. He wants to work on specific cricket skills besides attaining prime fitness,” the source said.According to this performance block programme, if a fast bowler is undergoing rehab, his bowling will also be assessed by gradually increasing the workload. Once the bowler is able to endure the load, it will be observed if he can perform well taking that load. If the fast bowler isn’t bowling well through a session, then his return to play may be delayed.In the case of Hardik, the CoE will be working on bowling and batting according to the 50-over format. “Hardik hasn’t played a lot of 50-over cricket in the last two years. He needs to get certain aspects right before diving back into that format,” the source said.
