Series of injuries to key players prompted BCCI to give in to the Indian team management’s demand of having an extra physiotherapist in Australia. Yogesh Parmar flew to Australia during the Boxing Day Test match in Melbourne to assist India’s physio Patrick Farhart.
"There is heavy workload on Farhat and he is finding it tough to handle so many injury concerns single-handedly. The team management had requested for a physio, who will help Farhart," a BCCI source told Indian Express.
Baroda-born Yogesh Parmar has rich experience working with the sportspersons. He has previously worked with Team India during the Zimbabwe tour in 2015.
Farhart has had his work cut out right from the start of the tour when young Prithvi Shaw became the first casualty during India’s only warm-up match in Adelaide ahead of the series opener. The seasoned physiotherapist also attracted a fair bit criticism after Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja joined Shaw. Unlike Shaw, none of these cricketers were ruled out of the entire series but it was the reoccurrence of injuries particularly with Ashwin that brought him under the spotlight.
The miscommunication between the team management and board on player injuries became a matter of concern when Ashwin was included in India’s 13-man squad for the fourth Test at Sydney moments after captain Virat Kohli had ruled the off-spinner out because of an abdominal strain.
During this series only, Ravindra Jadeja was first named in the initial squad for the second Test at Perth and wasn't played despite Ashwin's injury.
Later coach Ravi Shastri, prior to the game in Melbourne, said that Jadeja was suffering from shoulder stiffness and wasn't 100 per cent fit at the start of the Perth Test.
The BCCI went on a damage control mode and gave a detailed update on Jadeja's injury with his latest fitness status, late on January 23.