Prasidh Krishna's 'All-Formats' Clearance: Fit on File, Questionable on the Ground

I still remember the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru the first time I went there — a security guard at the gate, a board inside that said 'Return-to-Play Protocol'. Everything looks fine on the file. Nothing looks fine on the ground.

That's how the Prasidh Krishna news arrived. The BCCI's Centre of Excellence has cleared him fit for 'all formats' after two days of simulation testing, and he can fly out on 'the next available flight' to play the third and final unofficial Test on the India A tour of New Zealand. The file says fit. The ground asks: how fit?

Let me make one thing clear, because the headline has blurred it for everyone: 'fit for all formats' is a medical and administrative clearance, not a certificate of match-fitness. Two days of simulation is not a Test match. It's a proxy — controlled environment, controlled spells, controlled temperature. But what happens in New Zealand is four-day cricket, in cold air, with seam movement, where a fast bowler's body absorbs the load of cumulative overs, not one spell.

I won't hesitate to write that Prasidh's profile itself raises the risk. Tall, hit-the-deck action, aggressive full length — that is exactly the profile that invites lower-back and soft-tissue injuries most. His injury history is not in this brief, and that is the biggest missing piece. Without knowing the injury history, the recurrence risk doesn't drop, whatever the simulation test showed.

My biggest concern is this: a simulation test and a multi-day cricket load are not the same thing. In a two-day controlled session you can bowl 15-over spells, rest in between, take ice baths. In four-day cricket you may have to bowl 40-50 overs across three innings, and the cumulative load on the body — shoulder, lower back, knee — is different there. The BCCI Centre of Excellence follows this protocol, and it's a good protocol. But there is a gap between protocol and performance, and I never merge the two in my reporting.

Another thing that nags me — the travel window. 'Next available flight' means very little preparation time after arrival. New Zealand's morning cold, a different time zone, and going straight into a multi-day match — it's a management decision, but it isn't easy for a player who was out for months.

Now the part the headline covered up. 'Fit for all formats' — does that mean he plays the next Test straight away? No. Does it mean he plays T20s with no load cap? No. A Centre of Excellence clearance usually comes bundled with an overs-cap and a graded-spell plan that never reaches the public domain. The public headline says 'all formats'; the inside truth is 'managed load'.

Another angle I'm tracking — the India A vs New Zealand A match is not just rehab ground. It's an audition too. Senior selectors will be watching, and if Prasidh bowls 10-12 overs across three spells there, holding pace and bounce, his name could move up fast in the senior Test team race. But if he tires within one spell, or a niggle arrives — this 'all formats' headline could turn into another injury story within weeks.

I have no problem believing Prasidh is fit — medically. But in cricket there are three kinds of fitness: medical, match, and mental. The Centre of Excellence gives the first. The second is built on the ground, and the third in the first two innings of a comeback. Any fast bowler who has been out for a long time shows a rhythm deficit in the first 1-2 matches on return — that's a general pattern, not specific to him.

Here's a question I'll leave open, because I don't have the answer: is the BCCI Centre of Excellence's two-day simulation test an adequate proxy for a four-day multi-day match? I don't think so — it's a good proxy, but the difference between proxy and actual test is what decides a player's career.

For those reading this news as 'Prasidh is back, now in the Test team' — a small note: this news is about availability, not performance. This news says he can play. It doesn't say how he'll play, how many overs he'll bowl, or which format he'll be picked in first.

What to watch next — how his spells are managed in the New Zealand A match. If the coach and physio bowl him in short 6-over spells, the meaning is clear — the board itself isn't fully confident. If he bowls long spells and the overs count in the scorecard looks normal, then the senior team race becomes real.

It's the same old thing — the file said 19, the mud on the boots said something else. Here the file says 'all formats'. New Zealand's pitch and cold wind will tell the truth over the next four days.