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Harshal Patel produced a grand opening at the show at IPL 2021. A five-gate print on April 9 at the season opener of the Royal Challengers for Bangalore defending champions against Mumbai Indians meant he got the attention of the cricket world. Although the campaign was suspended in the middle due to the Covid-19 crisis, Patel now has a good chance of building his new discovery.
Still, making a splash in a glitzy tournament was the last thing on Patels ’mind in the building. Two months before the IPL, the world rose upside down to a 30-year-old. A rupture of the Grade 3 ankle ligaments and many other complications meant playing cricket.
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The only thing he could do was walk properly. The swelling of the ankle was visible from up to 10 meters when he came to us on February 8, Dhananjay Kaushik, chief physiotherapist at the Inspire Sports Facility in Vijayanagar, Karnataka, who supervised his rehabilitation, said during a video call.
During a field practice with his state team Haryana in front of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 trophy in January, Patel rolled his ankles as he landed on the boundary rope. It took him out of the tournament and the chances of competing in the IPL also looked bleak.
The result was intensive rehabilitation for 21 days, a pack of more than 60 sessions. The hard work paid off as Patel recovered and restored the condition of the match. He ended up at 17 gates in seven IPL games at the top of the bowling charts before the season came to a standstill after coronavirus cases in its bio bubble.
He is currently in the United States with his family, Kaushik said. We talk a lot. He does a 5km run there; BCCI now has a new 2km time trial (within the yo-yo fitness test). I am convinced that purely for his fitness he is right there to get on the team.
Before Patel was able to raise his hand to a possible Indian slot game after the stellar IPL, he had to go on a tight schedule.
He always asked if he could play IPL. He was a little scared. We believed him that proper rehabilitation was possible, Kaushik said, explaining the injury and breaking it down.
The problem was that Patel had a grade 3 anterior talofibular (ATF) ligament rupture, he said, referring to one of three ankle-binding ligaments. There was also a problem with his deltoid muscle and muscle; there was also a lot of bone swelling (fluid buildup) in that ankle area, Kaushik said.
Class 1 and 2 ankle rupture is common, but Class 3 is a serious matter. Most often, athletes end up on the operating table. Most of the time it takes four or six weeks to recover.
But time was not an ally of Patels when the IPL was fast approaching and an RCB camp was planned for early March. That meant the versatile player had to work harder. It was a mixture of innovation and determination.
We had to think out of the box, so his rehabilitation was intense. The fact that he has recovered from a Class 3 rupture in just three weeks is a testament to his hard work, said Kaushik, who has also worked with spinner Amit Mishra, boxer Nikhat Zareen and javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra at the JSW-owned facility.
Kaushik said Patel was promoting his rapid recovery. First, the condition before Patels ’rehabilitation was really good. I have rarely seen an athlete who is so well aware of his body and learned about rehabilitation. First, I heard the video while he was in Pennsylvania in January. When I joined him at the IIS facility, it had been three weeks since I was injured, but there was still swelling.
Kaushik and a team of experts ensured that Patel was never in contact with cricket, even though it meant imitating bowling indoors at an IIS facility.
First, we assessed the area of the movement he was able to, his swelling, all he could do. I got him to do something that is very much related to cricket. If you keep an athlete away from what they’re used to doing, it takes your mind.
Initially, we did some weight carrying exercises while making sure that ankle movement is kept under control. We tied her ankle and got her to do a few things. Basically, you give the athlete a simulation from different perspectives to check if his balance is intact or not.
Progress was gradual and ankle loading was consistently increased. By the time he was ready to bowl again, we didn’t want him to think he had the condition to play. So we maintained the ankle load all the time and gradually increased it. We closely monitored that there was no damage. We analyze him on video before, during and after the exercises. After some sessions there would be swelling and then we improvise this way.
We used to do two to three sessions a day. In the morning we did the treatment, in the evening strength exercises and moderate balance.
After two weeks of rehabilitation, the swelling was gone and Patel was ready to bowl in the right field. The fact that he was about to play T20 cricket gave Kaushik confidence that Patels ’body would be able to carry the discipline of competitive sports.
Initially, we made him a bowl tapering downward. Two weeks after starting rehabilitation, we put him in a bowl on the ground. We calculated that even if he didn’t count balls and extra balls, he didn’t have to carry more than 26-28 deliveries in a match. So, before I gave him a fitness certificate, I made him 10 bowls with two spells. It is divided by 6-4 five minute increments.
In a match situation, there is extra pressure that leads to stress. So we made him a bat for 45 minutes too. We got him to do so for 3-4 days in a row. There was no swelling or discomfort, and we realized he was ready to take on the load of the match.
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