India, Aug. 6 -- Harshit Rana was cleared by the BCCI's Centre of Excellence at 97kg. Not long afterwards, the Indian team management reportedly considered him four kilograms overweight and sent him back to Bengaluru after his body broke down on the tour of England. Mohammed Siraj encountered the same system from the opposite direction. One of India's most durable fast bowlers reached the CoE before the Sri Lanka tour and was reportedly caught unprepared by revised fitness requirements only just communicated to contracted players.

Then there was Jasprit Bumrah. Initially named in the Test squad subject to fitness clearance, he remained troubled by the knee injury sustained in England and was eventually ruled out of the Sri Lanka series....