Sri Lankan coach offers to help avoid back injuries to Hardik Pandya
Hardik Pandya\'s lower back injury took away his bowling till recently
Mumbai: Team India's bowling all-rounder Haridk Pandya may sustain back injury again if the technical fault, while he is bowling is not corrected, according to Anusha Samaranayake, the coach in Sri Lanka.
Hardik Pandya's lower back injury took away his bowling till recently.
"It is very common to have back injuries on “side on” fast blowers because they tend to close their hips at the take off point. As a result of this, they tend to have a shift, at take-off to back foot landing. Because of this issue, they cannot jump straight but are more likely to jump away while bowling", Samaranayake explains.
"This shift affects the back of these side on fast bowlers because they get side on after landing the back leg. Due to this continuous strain on the back, they tend to get back injuries".
Interestingly, Lasith Malinga, who also played with Pandya for Mumbai Indians in the IPL had asked Samaranayake to speak to the Indian team management during the recent tour. However, because of the strict bio-bubble protocol, Samaranayake could not offer his services to Hardik Pandya.
"I know the root cause of Pandya's back injury and it is preventable, if dealt with properly. If he and Siraj can open the hip before jumping (at the bowling stride), there is a good chance for them to get sideways while they are airborne. This is a technical point related to biomechanics. Indian fast bowlers like Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Siraj do have this issue and as a result, they are more susceptible to back injuries", he added.
"Bowlers like Richard Hadlee, Waqar Younis, James Anderson have had minimum effort for counter rotation. If there is a shift, it is very difficult to align the back, the shoulder and the hip properly. The smaller shift, lesser will the strain on the back and not only that, the ankle, knees too. Therefore, what we effectively work on is to reduce the “shift”.
"There are few other technical points that these fast bowlers need to follow to get over this issue permanently", Samaranayake, who has successfully overcome this issue with many fast bowlers, said.
Samaranayake, 59, who played 11 First Class matches will be leaving for coaching in Australia soon.