Will Jadeja be fit for Australia?

The Nayan Mongia affair has mercifully ended. It was like a long drawn out soap opera with a needlessly tragic ending. The `star' (Mongia) was a pawn in the hands of the `director' (The Board of Control for Cricket in India). And if the BCCI does not play its part correctly, it could have another unnecessarily downbeat soap opera, this time `starring' Ajay Jadeja.

The 28-year-old Jadeja was at first selected for the tour of Australia but had to withdraw on grounds of an injured shoulder. He went to see South African specialist Mark Fergusson. Apparently the injury was serious enough to warrant a surgery, a point Fergusson made in his report. In fact he went a step further and said Jadeja could not play for India without undergoing an operation to his injured shoulder and recuperation thereafter would take at least six weeks. ``Even physiotherapy will not help him in his recovery without surgery,'' Fergusson is reported to have said.

BCCI secretary JY Lele told reporters after the working committee meeting in Chennai on Sunday that the Board would send the doctor's report to the five selectors and leave it to them to decide whether Jadeja should picked or not for the tri series.

The point to note is that when the medical expert has recommended surgery, can the selectors risk picking Jadeja? It is obvious that Jadeja, according to the report, is not fully fit to play the game. So why does Lele throw the ball in the selectors' court? The BCCI's firm stand should be that unless Jadeja undergoes surgery, he will not be considered for selection.

In any event, Lele is now expected to table the medical report at the selectors' meeting in Mumbai on December which will decide on the changes to be made in the Indian team for the limited overs tri series in Australia next month. Jadeja is one of the candidates to play in the competition. But will he make the trip? Or, more pertinently, should he be allowed to?