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New Delhi: The country versus club debate has reignited once again as Varun Chakravarthy bowled his full quota of overs for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) against Gujarat Titans in the IPL match on Saturday despite India’s top T20 spinner suffering a hairline fracture that required rest. Seeing Chakravarthy limping and bowling in pain did not sit well with those associated with the Indian team, especially when the country has to play seven T20 Internationals in Dublin and England next month.

A senior official of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said on the condition of anonymity, “I am sure that KKR’s physio is in touch with Team India’s physio (Kamlesh Jain). BCCI has been told by KKR that in the last match, Varun got injured in his left leg while saving the boundary. It was found that he had a hairline fracture. I believe that as a BCCI centrally contracted player, his fitness is of utmost importance and the BCCI medical team can intervene. Jain can be asked what information was received from KKR’s medical team.

Chakravarthy is considered a T20 specialist and does not have matches in the shortest format during the upcoming home series against Afghanistan but the question is whether the Tamil Nadu spinner will get enough time to recover from the injury before the UK tour starting on June 26. There is a fear that due to this desperation of the franchise, his injury may increase. Questions are being raised as to why the player himself did not stop bowling when he was clearly feeling uncomfortable while going back to bowl. He gave 47 runs in four overs without taking any wicket and was able to bowl only three dot balls.

The official questioned, “If Varun was rested due to a leg injury in the last match against Royal Challengers Bangalore, then it is important to know how he could not play in that match (on May 13) after a four-day break (against Delhi Capitals on May 8), but played on Saturday.” Yes, KKR’s campaign is at stake but can the BCCI allow such negligence by the franchise? A player will want to play despite pain but is this the right thing?

It will be interesting to see if the BCCI medical team led by physio Kamlesh Jain asks KKR not to field Chakravarthy during the next two matches. Knight Riders are scheduled to play Mumbai Indians (May 20) and Delhi Capitals (May 24) at the Eden Gardens.