Was Umar Gul's injury in 2013 mishandled? A few examples of other bowlers as well

[Savak]

He was 28 years old at the time, sure he wasn't in good form at the time but he was still young and had atleast another good 4-5 years to offer. He was still capable of bowling at 140-145 and sometimes 148 km/hr, he got sent back from the South African tour in 2013 due to a knee injury which was operated upon immediately in Australia.

Then we next saw Gul at the end of Dec 2013, he had an okish Sri Lanka ODI series and was said to be easing in after coming back from injury, he had a poor Asia Cup and T-20 WC in 2014 and the next thing we know he injured the same knee again in that England MCC ODI match in 2014 and i believe needed another knee operation

I believe when Gul came back in 2015, he did not look like the same bowler anymore, he was being much more careful and conscious of his jump and not putting the same pressure on his knee due to which his speeds on average had declined by a good 10-12 km/hr.

The last time i saw him in the 2016 England tour, it was very sad to see him operate at 80 mph for the most part and clearly the selectors have moved on when it was apparent that he was finished.

The question is was his injury and rehab mishanded? Was he rushed back into Cricket way before he was ready? I believe a similar thing happened to Junaid Khan as well where during one of the intense fitness training sessions under Waqar, he ruptured his knee when he had just recently recuperated from a similar injury recently and then the team management blamed Junaid for not following the team instructions to not travel by road to Peshawar which apparently aggravated his injury.

Is there any accountability in our Cricket system for people who mishandle players and their injuries which end up being Career threatening?

When Waqar was the bowling coach in the 2006 England Series when Samiullah Khan Niazi was selected, i believe he made him change his bowling action on the tour and a few months later, the poor lad was diagnosed with a stress fracture in the back and the bowler himself on tv blamed Waqar for his injury because he made him change his bowling action inadvisedly.

Similar case for Usman Shinwari, he had already suffered a stress fracture in the back once principally because of how demanding his bowling action was. Why weren't rectifications made to address the problem in the long run? Why was he using the same bowling action again the second time around after being away from the team for a year only for him to have another stress fracture in the back and now potentially being out of the team for another year to year and a half?

Who in Pakistan Cricket is responsible for these things? What is the role of the NCA and the various coaches, officials appointed?

 

[MenInG]

Big question marks about support for Pakistan players in terms of expert medical advice.

Also see Mohammad Zahid remarks about not much proper support for bowlers at domestic level and their inability to handle international pressures

 

[MMHS]

I think, not only fast bowlers, durability is an issue with every PAK bowlers including spinners, who haven't been trained in Counties. Coaching, training, mishandling injuries .... everything considered, personally I think 3 major factor for so many PAK bowlers having such a short career -


1. Massive Age cheating - There are few other reasons, but such degree of age cheating has a different perspective - it changes the equation all together. If we don't consider that (that's take out 5/6 years from official age), we can also say that Ambrose & Walshi were struggling before 35, Lillee & Marshall retired from Test at 29 and Jimmi Anderson is struggling for breather at 30 .....). Officially, Gul was 29 in 2013 which should be his prime years, but I am not surprised that his best years were over by 2011. For most fast bowlers, I have seen 23-25 is his fastest, then they start to add skills, experience with that & reach peak at around 29 - 2 years either side, those are best 5 years for a fast bowler. In that regard, Gul was at his peak between 2006 to 2010, between 22 to 26 officially - add 5/6 with that, we probably know the reason, why he was a spent force by 2013; just like DK Lillee, played his last Test in Jan 1984, when he was just 34, with a birth certificate issued at the time (or may be within 7 days) of his biological birth.

2. Short FC duration - above anything else, cricket is a game where fitness in built on match condition. It's not a power game, rather skill game and the physical demand here is more from endurance, rather than short burst out put like sprinting, boxing, basketball or even soccer. Those 60 overs FC matches are worst for building Fast bowlers body - at most they bowl 18-19 overs a day, often as low as 12-13 in 2/3 spells and then field for 5 hours. Same bowlers, when asked to field for 6.5 hours and bowl 23-25 overs/day in 4/5 spells, it's obvious that their body won't last. Almost every FC system still today asks bowlers to bowl at least 96 overs a day, in some cases 104+ overs, when PAK's FC system asks for 65, max 75 in a period when temperature is nice cool between 10C-30C.

3. Not having a central contract at FC level - at least top 35-40 fast bowlers should must have some sort of long term contract from their FC teams, not only for financial security (that doesn't force them to play for whatever tournaments here & there), but it binds them with some sort of discipline as well. I have seen many PAK pacers, playing in league cricket across BD and they did their own treatment - takes random pain killers, injections, no diet chart, no training schedule, no rehabilitation - they are just good, skilled fast bowlers who were surviving on their youth, by late 20s body starts to respond slowly, lack of stamina results in over stress on few particular muscles, morphine doses go higher.....

Besides, another BIG problem is when one player plays for 10-12 tams in a season, apart from the established national players, most others (particularly younger ones) are treated/advised by literature/semi-literate/half-literate/illiterate experts on their fitness, injuries, medication - by the end of season, many of those "advice" are contradictory and counter productive because of another recurring "advice". Every thing can be managed by body as long as it's in it's biological 20s - after that, body also stops fighting, hence most of the PAK pacers expire by their official early 30s, even late 20s.

In terms of quantity, PAK bowlers (fast bowlers) probably bowl most number of overs - from T10 to Ramadan Cup, it's less quality lot lot more quantity which takes it's full physical toll for very little development. Besides, domestic schedules are not suitable for rehabilitation - FC season is packed and there are too many lower level cricket; players are allowed to play every level at random. Packed FC season, which is over within 90 days, which means if a bowler is out for few weeks, his season is over. Most other country spreads their domestic cricket over the full season, may be exception is the latest introduction - T20, otherwise domestic cricket in every country is run simultaneously for 2/3 tournaments for the most duration of season, which allows players space to take necessary injury breaks.


That domestic system has to be fixed - 99% issues are related to that, for every problem.

 

[FreePalestine]

Not sure about Gul.

With Junaid, I regret that he was bowled into the ground a lot by Misbah in his peak.

But important to remember that fast bowlers from all countries pick up injuries. Look at the Aussie quicks - way more injury prone. England currently have Tremlett out of action and Wood gets injured regularly. Steyn has been out for a while in SA and Morkel regularly has problems.

Steyn is a good eg. They were so desperate to have him back recently, he came back, played one game or so and was injured again. Was he rushed or are there too many factors to know for sure?

 

[ExplicitAI]

I have watched Gul during his worst years (After the 2011 WC and onwards) and believe me he could not buy a wicket and would always concede boundaries. He'd pick up a wicket in dying moments of a match.

 

[Savak]

Not a huge fan of Gul but it was clear that after his injury in 2013, he was not the same bowler again. Was his injury and rehab mishandled by the PCB due to which the last 7 years of his career suffered?

 

[Titan24]

Was only able to get 18 ODI wickets after 2013 injury and none in tests. Surely such serious injury especially when he was entering his 30s was a big setback. If that wouldnt have happened he would have easily got 200+ wickets in both tests and ODIs.

Cant comment on the diagnosis of PCB’s medical panel but considering how many players like Haris Sohail, Juanid Khan, Umer Gul etc have suffered serious injuries it definitely needs to improve itself.

Also not sure whats up with the knees of Pak players, players of other countries do get knee issues sometimes but these are not as frequent as Pak players. All 3 I have mentioned Haris, Junaid and Gul from the last decade had knee issues. Amir also has some issues with knee which doesnt require surgery but management if I am not wrong.

 

[angrypathan]

Was only able to get 18 ODI wickets after 2013 injury and none in tests. Surely such serious injury especially when he was entering his 30s was a big setback. If that wouldnt have happened he would have easily got 200+ wickets in both tests and ODIs.

Cant comment on the diagnosis of PCB’s medical panel but considering how many players like Haris Sohail, Juanid Khan, Umer Gul etc have suffered serious injuries it definitely needs to improve itself.

Also not sure whats up with the knees of Pak players, players of other countries do get knee issues sometimes but these are not as frequent as Pak players. All 3 I have mentioned Haris, Junaid and Gul from the last decade had knee issues. Amir also has some issues with knee which doesnt require surgery but management if I am not wrong.

Azhar Ali as well, with the knee issues. Shoaib Akhtar and Mashrafe Mortaza had completely shot knees. Even I have dodgy knees Maybe it's a genetic thing. It is interesting though, most Australian fast bowlers, or for that matter, fast bowlers around the world tend to have back problems due to the stress from their actions. Their knees tend to be okay.

 

[Thunderbolt14]

Regarding knees, I believe it’s a combination of three factors:
1) Genetically weaker knees
2) Rampant over-bowling
3) Running on concrete/cement/gravel without the right shoes to absorb the impact (Shoaib Akhtar notes this as one of the issues for his knees, in addition to his hyperextended joints)

 

[naseem]

When a bowler suffers injury esp knee joint back....it's difficult 4 him to attain his earlier best....Bowling is such a punishing job it takes a toll on ur lower body ....sometimes they have shoulder issues too....
Plus most of them usually field in the boundary and they have to run dive sprint to save boundaries......
So it's not easy being a bowler........A bowler has to bowl so many bowls daily in nets to attain accuracy too.....yes sometimes they don't bowl full steam or with short run up but still bowling 10 12 overs in nets is no walk in park

 

[cric_4life]

Gul never upped his game after 2009. and after 2011 he was conceding runs like no other. Gul became Mohammed Sami 2 and kept bowling short. It was so easy to pick his next bowl. Short Short full short short short.

 

[Varun]

Umar Gul is Pakistan's most capped pacer after Waqar Younis.

But why spend time on diagnosing him and helping him extend his career when you can pull out another 15-year old and call him the next Wasim instead? In this case it was Junaid Khan, who after his flash of beginner's luck is today nowhere to be seen.

 

[Titan24]

Time for the young and upcoming pacers team to learn the fitness and training rituals of Wasim, Waqar and Imran as all 3 were able to play cricket for a long time. PCB should also manage their workload well.

They can possibly have a panel discussions with doctors from around the world and let them know of the injuries which some players have faced in last decade or so and taking into account the genetics, fitness routines, workload etc. they can provide their input on how to go about current players and future players.