IANS

New Delhi, Apr 9: The health ministry Friday expressed unhappiness over Delhi Daredevils skipper Gautam Gambhir and pacer Ashish Nehra taking ayurvedic treatment in Sri Lanka and said they could have been treated in the country itself.

S. Jalaja, secretary with the ayush department of the health and family welfare ministry, has shot off a letter to secretary in the sports ministry regarding this.

"I have written to the sports secretary that India is a pioneer in ayurvedic treatment and Indian cricketers should not have been sent to Sri Lanka for it," Jalaja said at a function here.

He said the players could have been treated by doctors in India.

"We have good ayurvedic doctors here and had the sports ministry asked us, we would have provided them a list of certified hospitals," he said.

Both Gambhir and Nehra went to Colombo for ayurvedic treatment last month. The players were special guests of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and were treated by Eliyantha White.

Gambhir missed Delhi Daredevils' last two matches of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) due to a hamstring injury while Nehra is yet to play in the IPL because of a rib injury.