CWC 2019: Faf du Plessis concerned about managing the workload of fast-bowlers with back to back organisation of IPL and World Cup

Plessis seems not pleased with IPL 2019 taking place before the World Cup.

South Africa is currently playing Pakistan in Test Series at home | Getty Images

South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis expressed his concern about managing the workload of the national set-up, especially fast-bowlers ahead of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, as a lot of national players will be part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019, which is just before the ICC event in England and Wales.

While the upcoming 12th edition of the IPL 2019 is expected to kick start at the end of March and the T20 event will be stretching until mid-May, resulting the Proteas players would get only about two weeks time to recuperate ahead of their World Cup opener against England on May 30.

Du Plessis told reporters at Cape Town on Wednesday, “The obvious one for me is the IPL. The IPL is just before the World Cup, and the last thing you want is one of your bowlers getting injured just before the tournament. That's a concern for us, seeing how we can play that scenario out best.”

He continued, “With Dale [Steyn], or KG [Rabada] or any other bowlers, in terms of workload, the World Cup is still quite a while away. Probably you'll see that closer to the World Cup we'll think about stuff like [managing workloads].”

Meanwhile, Proteas skipper also wants to stay in the present, as South Africa is currently involving in the three-match Test series against Pakistan, and they are looking to wrap up the series in Cape Town, where they will play the second Test from Thursday (January 3) after winning Centurion Test.

Du Plessis signed off by saying, “That's certainly something that's always at the back of my head. I can only speak from a personal point of view. You're continuously thinking about the decisions and stuff that will impact that. But it's also important to stay in the present. If you look at the World Cup the whole time, you'll lose sight of what's going on in front of you. So there is that little bit of thinking ahead, but unfortunately, it's too far out to start making decisions now that will impact them.”

(With Cricbuzz Inputs)

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 03 Jan, 2019

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