Delhi Capitals have had the highest number of injuries among all the IPL teams. Patriot finds out it may be due to Vitamin D deficiency

We’re past the halfway stage in IPL 2020 and the list of injuries continues to get larger. As many as five teams have had players missing action through the tournament.

Chennai Super Kings received a big blow early on in the tournament when their star players Ambati Rayudu and Dwayne Bravo were ruled out for a few games.

However, the two are now back on the side. The Royal Challengers Bangalore missed the services of Chris Morris for a good part of the tournament, but the South African too has returned to action. Australian pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile has recovered from his injury and played his first game for the Mumbai Indians on Tuesday evening. The Sunrisers Hyderabad, meanwhile, have had to bid goodbye to two key players, Aussie all-rounder Mitchell Marsh and pace ace Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Interestingly, the team worst hit with injuries has been one of the top performers in the tournament. The Delhi Capitals first lost Englishman Chris Woakes before the start of the tournament, but this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as his replacement Anrich Nortje has been in fine form. Ravichandran Ashwin dislocated his shoulder in Delhi’s first game of the season. When Ashwin returned after missing a few games, it was fellow spinner Amit Mishra’s turn to pick up an injury. Mishra, unfortunately, was ruled out for the season. Since then, three more injuries have surfaced in the Delhi camp. Here are the latest injury updates.

Senior paceman Ishant Sharma played just one game for Delhi before his season ended thanks to an abdominal muscle tear. Sharma had earlier suffered a back spasm during training before the start of the IPL. Delhi haven’t announced a replacement for their squad, but they wouldn’t be worried considering their pace attack, led by Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, has been performing tremendously.

The maverick wicketkeeper-batsman Rishab Pant pulled his hamstring in the Capitals’ game against the Rajasthan Royals, and has missed a couple of matches since. However, it has now been reported that the injury is not just a hamstring pull but a muscle tear. Pant has not officially been ruled out of the tournament but missed two more games. Though he returned to action vs Kings XI Punjab, he did look jittery and possessed a niggle due to which he couldn’t give a 100%.

Delhi captain Shreyas Iyer walked off the field in immense pain in their previous game, after hurting his shoulder while fielding. After the game, it was reported that he was able to move his shoulder but was still in pain. However, the prayers of fans were answered and he returned to action vs Chennai Super Kings. Besides leading the side, Iyer has been in fine form with the bat this season. Delhi will hope that he returns to full fitness soon, and fire all guns blazing

Returning to a heavy tournament like the IPL right after months of inaction due to the Coronavirus-induced lockdown of sports across the globe is one of the major factors.

Dr Ashok Ahuja, former head of Department of Sport Medicine and Science at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) in Patiala says it takes about seven to eight weeks to come to 80-90% of the capacity of the fitness after a period of six months of inaction. “That’s the general guidelines being issued by every association in every country.” Those who are not following it, and with that eagerness to get into the competitive mode, they’re bound to get injuries.

According to Athletics Federation of India’s (AFI) high performance director Volker Herrmann, in a statement said that lack of Vitamin D, produced when the body is exposed to the sun’s rays, can lead to stress fractures or muscle injury, especially when athletes resume training after long breaks.

In tests conducted by the AFI, it has been found that the athletes’ blood does lack the required quantity of Vitamin D after sports training resumed after the lockdown.

Vitamin D helps with recovery, especially of the muscles and it also reduces the recovery time. It is also related to bone density. “Sometimes athletes are dealing with stress fractures and that can be due to an overload but it can also be because of Vitamin D deficiency”, added Hermann.