Let Leipus have the last say

Faisal Shariff

How would you feel, if you slogged endless hours in an alien land, away from your newly wedded wife, and learnt that your work is not appreciated?

Ask Andrew Leipus.

On Sunday, shortly after rain washed out all prospects of play on the final day of the third India-England Test, Leipus was engaged in making a presentation before BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya, in a bid to convince that worthy that he is indeed the right man for the job.

The strange aspect is that Dalmiya felt the need to be convinced -- surely the performance of Leipus's predecessors, Dr Ali Irani and Dr Ravinder Chaddha, is all the argument anyone needs?

"Would South African physio Craig Smith or Aussie Errol Arcott ever have to go through humiliation like this?" asked a national player who, like the rest of his mates, was incensed at the treatment meted out to the hard-working Leipus.

“You can’t work with an axe hanging over your head," Leipus told me, a couple of days earlier. "I’m here with the guys because I think this is a great bunch with unbelievable talent in them. Secondly, because I like to win. I dream of being a part of this team winning the next World Cup.”

That dream has helped the Aussie swallow a lot of hurt and humiliation. For starters, he is not even on contract with the board -- not that a contract is much security, but still. Instead, he is, in real terms, a casual labourer, being paid month to month.

And even those payments have been pretty much at the whims and fancies of the board -- thus, for many months, Leipus was not even paid his dues, forcing him to borrow money from family and from friends.

And yet he soldiered on.

The task of inculcating a culture of fitness among the Indians has been, Leipus says, rather difficult. And what has made it worse is that he has to do it by persuasion alone -- neither he, nor coach John Wright, has been given the right to drop a player on the basis of lack of fitness.

While Leipus was supposed to be accountable, unaccountability on the part of the players has gone unremarked. Time and again, players have hidden injuries in order to make it to, or remain in, the side -- and then broken down midway through a series. And when Leipus spots the injuries and takes the player concerned to task for hiding it, he is invariably over-ruled by the selectors and the board.

Perhaps the best testimonial to Leipus was paid by Anil Kumble recently. Speaking on television following a ceremony to felicitate him for being the second Indian to join the 300 club, Kumble said, and then repeated, that Leipus was primarily responsible for the fact that he could put his shoulder surgery behind him and get back to the cricket field.

When the controversy first broke, many readers wrote in to us, asking about the spate of injuries to the Indian players and suggesting that, maybe, Dalmiya is right; maybe Leipus should be held accountable.

How so? South African fast bowler Allan Donald has been breaking down every other day, without anyone suggesting that Craig Smith should be held accountable for that. Jason Gillespie has just sidelined himself from the second Test against South Africa, with his umpteenth injury -- but no one suggests that Errol Arcott be sacked.

Similarly, if Sachin Tendulkar hurts his toe while fielding, if Javagal Srinath fractures his hand while batting, if VVS Laxman damages his knee while playing, if Zaheer Khan breaks down because he will not heed his physio's advice and work in the gym to reduce excess weight, how is Leipus answerable?

If players act like children and refuse to follow the physical regimen laid down by the physio, what can Leipus do?

The answer is to empower the physio, to give him the authority to discipline his players if they fail to adhere to prescribed work schedules, if they fail fitness tests (almost all senior players failed the bleep test before the team set out for South Africa), if they hide injuries or falsify their state of health. Leipus should be given the right to recommend that a player be dropped from the side, either for lack of fitness, or for injuries that need rest and recuperation.

Accountability without authority never works.

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