Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid, the new captain-coach duo in the Indian cricket set-up, admitted that workload management in very important to the team. Speaking at a press conference Tuesday ahead of the first T20I against New Zealand, the two emphasised on the physical and mental health aspects of a players life.
“Workload management is very important us. The players are not machine. Taking time off is necessary. Freshness of players is extremely important. We want all the players to be fresh for the challenges ahead,” Rohit Sharma said.
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India’s Test captain Virat Kohli is set to miss the T20 series against the Kiwis. As per media reports, the 33-year-old might opt out of the first Test match too. Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Rishabh Pant have been rested for the red-ball series. New Zealand’s captain Kane Williamson has also taken a break.
Speaking of the need of workload management, coach Rahul Dravid said, “We are not at that point where we are looking for separate teams in different formats. At this time we need to respect the players’ physical and mental health. I want to players to be fresh and switched on and these are challenging times so I would want to work with players and ensure they are well rested.”
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However, Rahul reiterated that he is not looking for separate teams in different formats.
“We might not have players who play all formats playing all the time and that will be a chance for others to showcase their talent. At this point I am not looking for separate teams in different formats.”
England have been following the ‘separate teams’ template for quite some time.
“There are holes we need to fill up. That will be the biggest challenge for us. I’m not going to say that we are going to follow other teams’ template. We will do what suits us best. The players play a different role in Syed Mushtaq Ali, franchises and in the national team. We need to define specific role for players,” Rohit Sharma said.