There have been a lot of talks about how the World Cup-bound players need to effectively manage their workload during a daunting tournament like the Indian Premier League. Amidst a host of suggestions from various quarters, Rohit Sharma and Zaheer Khan have urged India's World Cup probables to ‘listen’ to their bodies.
The World Cup starts on May 30 with South Africa taking on hosts England, while the two-time World champions India begin their campaign on June 5 against the Proteas at Southampton. On the other hand, IPL 2019 is all set to get underway from March 23 and is expected to culminate by the second week of May.
“It’s going to be challenging as always. We have been on the road for last three or four years. We have played a lot of back to back cricket. It depends on individuals. You should always listen to your body,” Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma said while addressing the media on Tuesday (March 19).
“Yes, the World Cup is our priority. The IPL is also one of the biggest tournaments in the world. That is our priority as well. Keeping everything in mind we would take a decision collectively (on workload factor) on each individual,” he added.
Rohit also asserted that Indian players are smart enough to know when they need to take rest.
“Some of the players that I have spoken to in the Indian team and here, like to keep in touch, they like to keep playing. They are smart, they know when they need to take a back seat and rest,” he remarked.
Commenting on the same topic, Mumbai Indians’ director of cricket operations Zaheer Khan told reporters: “I have always felt it’s an individual call. You have to listen to body and respond. I think we all recognise how important the World Cup is as a tournament and we also understand what the IPL brings to the table – match practice and intensity.”
“You don’t want a lay-off for a long time for any cricketer. He needs to be in touch and dealing with pressure. That is also going to be a huge factor in the World Cup. We understand all that and steps will be taken,” the former India pacer added.
Zaheer also said that no player should play in the IPL fearing injury ahead of the World Cup.
“There has been a lot of talk about workload. You have to trust each and every member of the World Cup squad. We don’t want them to play in the tournament thinking ‘if I give 100 per cent I may get injured and be blamed for it’. We need to take that pressure away from them.”
“Playing more and more matches has always worked for me. We all need to make peace with the workload talk and the World Cup talk. We understand how important it is and, at the same, time need to create a scenario where everyone is trusting them,” he concluded.
