Yuvraj to play World Cup without an ACL!

[Danny]

Yuvraj has not opted for surgery after tearing his ACL. This decision is quite contraversial, as there are considerable change of direction demands in cricket and for optimal stability he really should have a reco.

The World Cup is only 4 months away though and I suppose this is the motivating factor behind conservative rehab. The recovery time for ACL reco is generally 6 months.


Battting blow for India
From correspondents in Mumbai, India

November 14, 2006 INJURED India batsman Yuvraj Singh has been ruled out of next month's the three-Test series in South Africa, and the home one-day series with West Indies and Sri Lanka early next year.

The knee injury that sidelined the middle-order batsman from the one-day leg of the tour, beginning on Sunday, is to be re-assessed after eight weeks, an India cricket board statement said overnight.

The 24-year-old left hander, who tore ligaments in his left knee playing on the eve of the Champions Trophy game with Australia last month, was examined by the board's orthopaedic surgeon Anant Joshi overnight.

"(The) plan is to follow a conservative rehab path (non-surgical) initially with constant ongoing reassessment to give Yuvraj the best chance to be available for the World Cup and the subsequent series to follow," the statement said.

The Punjab player, who has featured in 159 one-dayers and 19 Tests, has grown in stature as an aggressive batsman and superb point fielder.

He was nominated for the International Cricket Council one-day player of the year award which was won last week by Australia's Mike Hussey.

Reuters

[Syd Uni sports clinic]

His ACL will probably grow back, but in the wrong place. This may give him a semi-stable knee that is OK for some activities but not others.

It is not a bad decision for a cricketer, even though it might be suicidal in a football player. Sean Ervine (Zimb now WA cricketer) had an ACL reco last year but prior to that had played about 5 seasons successfully after an ACL injury. He re-injured last year and went for surgery, but proved high level cricket is possible despite un-reconstructed ACL.

Yuvraj may find his plan goes pear shaped, but if it does he then goes off an has the reco at a later date.