India cruise as schedule takes its toll on others
JOHANNESBURG: While India are happy fielding mostly the same players across formats, other top teams seem to be feeling the effect of tight schedules. England and Australia are showing the way with the latter fielding separate Test and T20 teams.
For the second consecutive year, an Australian team is playing T20s at home while the Test team is on tour abroad. Australia skipper Steve Smith made it clear on landing in South Africa for the Test series: “In an ideal world, we would have liked no clashes. Sometimes it is tough for the schedules.”
Tony Irish, executive chairman of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Association (FICA), says burnout and injuries are related to the overall structure of the game. “The best players want to play in all formats, whether it is AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli or Steve Smith. However, the authorities handling international cricket need to come up with a better structure. We have been lobbying for better international structure to get window for the league,” he said.
Irish feels the way the game is going, soon players could dump international cricket and focus only on the lucrative T20 leagues.
“We need window for leagues and better have leagues compete with each other than with international cricket.”
For India, though, it has been about managing the workload and injuries to ensure they have the best players for all formats.
Skipper Virat Kohli, among the fittest cricketers in the world who has shouldered a heavy batting burden, felt some strain during the first T20 in Johannesburg on Sunday. He quickly went off to avoid aggravating the injury.
“The injury was early on in the innings. It was in the glutes, while taking a single. Thankfully it wasn’t a hamstring. So, I went off before I would tear a muscle,” he said after the match.
REST PAYS OFF
Man-of-the-match Bhuvneshwar Kumar was rested for the last ODI, and bounced back with a five-wicket haul in the T20 win.
“It (success) comes with fitness. It is not easy playing all three formats, especially on a single tour. So, what I wanted to do before coming here was manage the workload. I wanted to practice but in a specific way, so as to not put extra pressure on the body,” Bhuvneshwar said after claiming 5/24.
It will be interesting to see if India follow England and Australia and rest the top players. They have a T20 tri-series next followed by IPL, a one-off Test against Afghanistan and then the tough tour of England that comprises limited-overs matches followed by Tests.
But with Virat Kohli leading the way, there is unlikely to be any let-up, at least in the near future.