India will take on West Indies in a three-match ODI series later this month.
Later this month, India will tour West Indies for a three-match ODI series under Shikhar Dhawan's captaincy. There are several prominent players missing from the Indian team that was announced for the series, most notably captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, both of whom haven’t been among runs lately.
There were some questions about the choice to rest the players given that Kohli was rested for the first T20I against England while Rohit had missed the fifth Test against England due to a positive Covid-19 test.
Prior to the England Test, India's five-match T20I series at home against South Africa and their two-match T20I series in Ireland did not feature these two veteran cricketers as they were rested.
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Former cricketer Aakash Chopra emphasized that due to the disruption of the cricket schedule caused by COVID-19, all players had received ample rest over the last three years.
"What is with all the rest? How much rest do you want? Earlier, when a player used to be out of form, he used to be dropped and picked again only when he scored runs in domestic cricket. But now whenever someone is out of form, he rests. Are you guys not worried about it?" Chopra said on his Youtube channel.
He stated further that the players whose performance is not up to the mark should play as much cricket as they can instead of taking a rest.
"I personally think whenever someone is out of form, he should play as much cricket is possible. When there were strict bio bubbles, there was no cricket for almost six months in 2020 from March to September. Next year again you play one half of IPL and then after gap of three-four months, you played the second half. So it's already a rest of ten months in 2-3 years. You don't get any more rest than this in professional sport," he said further.
Virat in the IPL 2022 could only manage 341 runs at 22.73 apiece. Rohit’s batting woes are even alarming given that he scored 268 runs at a dismal average of 19.14 in the 2022 season of IPL.
The cricketer-turned-commentator expressed pleasure in the team management giving consistent opportunities to young players like Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Deepak Hooda, and Ruturaj Gaikwad.
"It's good that India keep on giving opportunities to players like Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Deepak Hooda, and Sanju Samson when the big players are rested. But what happens when these fringe players score runs. Do you tell them that they are dropped just because the big players are available now? Won't they feel what wrong they have done?" he pointed out.
(HT INPUTS)