BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia has clarified that Nitin Patel, the head of its Sports Science and Medical team, hasn’t resigned but instead has his contract extended by three months on a special request. Nitin has been associated with the Indian men’s cricket team for nearly three years and his tenure ended on December 31, 2024. There were reports that Nitin has resigned but Saikia claims the board wanted him to continue with the Indian team. However, the BCCI is now hunting for Nitin’s replacement after he cited “personal reasons” behind his refusal to continue. “It has been wrongly reported by the media that Patel has resigned,” Saikia told The Times of India. “His contract/tenure was over on Dec 31, 2024. Then we made him a special request to extend his tenure by three months, which he agreed to. His extended contract will be over by March 31, 2025.” “We are trying to get a new person (to replace him). We are in talks with a few people. We wanted Nitin to continue, but he’s got a pressing personal (family) issue to attend to, so can’t continue, so we will have an alternative person in his place,” he added. Citing a senior BCCI source, news agency PTI earlier reported that the BCCI’s Center of Excellence (formerly National Cricket Academy) is moving on from Nitin since he has resigned. “Yes, Nitin has resigned as head of Sports Science and Medical Team. Nitin had a very good stint with BCCI and especially during this tenure, where he was instrumental in set-up of Sports Science and Medical team at NCA,” the source was quoted as saying. “One good thing that happened in the past couple of years is that whenever any injured player did his rehab, he only came back when he was more than hundred percent. Nitin’s family lives abroad and managing COE’s sports science and medical division is 365-days-a-year assignment,” the source added. During his successful tenure, Nitin oversaw the rehabilitation from various injuries to top India cricketers including Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, KL Rahul among others.