India to get three-week break between WTC and England series

LONDON: The Indian team management has decided to give a three-week break to its players after the World Test Championship final in a bid to address the mental fatigue that might be triggered by lengthy spells in a bio-bubble.

The WTC final against New Zealand will be held from June 18-22 at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton and the members of the Indian squad will disperse for close to three weeks (20 days) before regrouping on July 14 to prepare for the five-match series against England starting in Nottingham from August 4.

“As skipper Virat Kohli and coach

Ravi Shastri had told the media at the pre-departure press conference, there will be a break. There is a six-week gap between WTC final and opening Test against England, so we had to address the issue of players’ well-being. Within UK, they can disperse off, go for a holiday, meet friends and family,” a senior BCCI official said.

Obviously, there could be some team get-togethers also but players would be free to choose how they want to spend their time.

“Most of them have come to UK multiple times and have friends and acquaintances around the country. It’s only fair that they can switch off,” said the source. In fact, skipper Kohli on June 2, during the pre-departure, was asked if the 42-day gap between the two assignments would affect the team’s preparations. Kohli had termed it a welcome break for the team.

“I feel like after you are done with WTC, I think it’s a great opportunity to refresh and restructure. Hopefully, if things are okay, out in England, we would have finished our quarantine period and just for the guys to be normal for a few periods of time just disconnect again,” Kohli had said back then.

Head coach Shastri had also echoed his skipper’s sentiments.