CHENNAI: Less than two weeks ago, after having sealed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-1, India skipper Rohit Sharma indicated that there could be some overseeing of the workload of players in the lead-up to the World Test Championship final. After all, every top, fit and available Indian player is going to be a part of a gruelling two-month-long Indian Premier League which will end ten days before the WTC final.
“It’s quite critical for us. We are going to keep in constant touch with all the players who are going to play that final and monitor their workload and see what’s happening with them,” Sharma had said at that time, even indicating that the players who are from teams that don’t qualify for play-offs could be sent to England early.
The question about keeping an eye on the players’ workload runs a lot deeper than just keeping them fresh. For far too long now, Indian cricket has been riddled with injuries, often recurring ones, that has kept the players who are a part of the regular XI out of action. Jasprit Bumrah hasn’t played since September (He came close to playing twice before being ruled out).
Ravindra Jadeja missed the T20 World Cup. Shreyas Iyer was out of the ODIs due to a recurring back injury and will miss the first half of IPL. Prasidh Krishna has been ruled out of the T20 tournament with a stress fracture. The list goes on. So, it becomes all the more important in the context of the 50-over format as there is a home World Cup to play for.
This is why, after India lost the ODI series against Australia 1-2 in Chennai on Wednesday, the same question was posed to Sharma. While admitting the injury concerns of players who are the regulars in the XI, he was empathetic in saying that the backroom staff and players are doing everything in their power to keep the 15 they want fit and ready for the WC. “Players are frustrated as well. You know, they want to play, they don’t want to miss out,” he said.
“I can see and I can vouch for it that the people working behind the scene are working really hard with all these players and freakish injuries can happen at any point in time, like Shreyas was the best example. He was sitting the whole day and he just went to take a knock. And you know, the injury happened to him and there’s nothing you could do about it. I mean, the only thing we can keep in mind is managing players and giving them enough breaks and I think from our side we’re doing that.”
That said, Iyer, who was coming back from injury, fielding in close-in catching positions for sustained periods in the Test series might not have helped the case. And, when asked what kind of role or say the Indian team management will have in managing the workload of these players through the IPL, Sharma was candidly pragmatic. “It’s all up to the franchisees now, the franchisees own them (players) now,” he said.
“We’ve given some indications or borderline kind of things but at the end of the day, it’s up to the franchisee and most importantly, it’s the players. They have to take care of their own body. They’re all adults. So, they have to look after their body and if they feel that it’s getting a little too much, they can always talk about it and have a break in one or two games. I doubt that will happen.”
It seems to be the existing reality at the moment. From March 31st till May 28, it is going to be the ten teams that will be managing the players as they try to win as many games as possible in a 14-game each league stage before the play-offs. And the players are getting ready for it too.
That Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, who will be turning up for Delhi Capitals, went “Go Delhi” with a smile and a fist pump just as he got up and left the dias in the media centre on Wednesday night summed it up. From the Indian context, there is a red-ball and 50-over global title to be won over the next eight months. But for now, the focus shifts to the IPL.
