Delhi Capitals (DC) recently appointed former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly as their advisor for IPL 2019. He has joined former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, former Indian batsman Mohammad Kaif and Pravin Amre in the support staff for the twelfth edition of the IPL.
Ganguly expressed his views on the current debate of managing players before the all-important World Cup 2019. In an event arranged by DC, he said," Yes, there is a lot of cricket but you just play. How many cricketers get to play 15-16 years of international cricket? I don't think anyone should worry about being fatigued, being tired. Just find a way to get fresh. Because I have always said there is limited time to play this sport. Getting opportunities at the international level, at the IPL level, this will never come back, so find a way to get rest, find a way to stay fresh and keep playing."
He said that players also played the same amount of cricket during his time even if a tournament like the IPL wasn't in place. He also believes that for a professional cricket player, one does not get to play for more than 15 years and he/she should not let of opportunities to play matches.
"Not playing is not the solution, even our generation played a lot of cricket. Yes IPL was not there as it came towards the end of our career but, cricket-wise, it was the same. I keep saying that before you realize, you will see 10-12 years have just flown away. Just make the most of it and play every possible cricket match you can," he said.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli has said that the players will have to manage themselves and stay fit for the World Cup. Ganguly is also of the same opinion that there cannot be some rules on the number of games a player should play in order to avoid any injuries.
He said," Decision should be left to the players. It's their career, you play at the top level consistently and you can get injured. And there is no guarantee that when you play for the country you won't get injured. So there is no hard and fast rule. I believe in one thing, as a player, when you get an opportunity, play, never say I don't want to play."
(With PTI inputs)
