IPL 2019: Patrick Farhart playing the role of third umpire to ensure injury free IPL

While the Team India players are currently plying their services for their respective franchises in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), the team management is keeping a keen eye on the World Cup-bound layers. With the World Cup not very far away, workload management has been the talk of the town. India skipper Virat Kohli has already said that the onus is on players to manage themselves well during the gruelling tournament. Head coach Ravi Shastri, on the other hand, has said that he would watch each game while expressing his fears over a potential injury.

So far everything has been good for Indian cricket. However, there was a moment to worry last Sunday when pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah had fallen down on the ground, clutching his shoulders in pain. Reports then came out that Team India physio Patrick Farhart had immediately contacted his Mumbai Indians counterpart Nitin Patel to keep tabs on Bumrah’s injuries.

And if reports are to be believed then Farhart is going to be busy during the entire IPL to remain updated on the players’ status as far as injuries and workload management are concerned. According to India Today, Farhart will be a central figure in case of any injury to an Indian World Cup prospect during the IPL.

“All the franchise physios are reporting to Farhart. He will continue to monitor not just in case of any injuries but also monitor workload,” a BCCI official told the news outlet. The report claimed that Farhart is expected to be playing third umpire from India for a major part of the IPL except a 10-day break when he goes back home to Australia.

Reliability on data:

Former India physio and currently with Rajasthan Royals, John Gloster has said that assessing the data of the players have made it easy for the teams to monitor the workload of their players especially the pacers. He also said that franchises are giving it importance too while insisting that a good assessment of the data reduces injury risk significantly.

“I think we have got a lot better at it looking at data which help us make those decisions which I call risk mitigation. We need to manage risk around injury a lot better. The more information we have on a player the better we can do. Data that we have collected for Royals has given us an insight into player load. Particularly load around fast bowlers. Workload management is the biggest injury precursor. If we can manage, we can reduce injury risk significantly.”

“And now with the data available, we can almost predict injury risk. It allows us to keep playing the players in match situations, because we are more aware of how they are training and what they are doing between match situations. So we are getting a lot smarter. Franchises are looking at that as well,” he said.

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