Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has criticized the Indian cricketers for their repeated requests for rest citing workload management ahead of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 to be hosted by India in October-November.
Gavaskar wrote about the difference between the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the international assignments in terms of relevance to the present-generation players. He said that “workload” is a new kind of excuse that the players are using to avoid major fixtures for the Indian team while playing all the games in IPL.
“The new word is workload and for a generation that has beach bodies and a pampered mindset it’s the perfect excuse not to play for their country,” Gavaskar wrote in Mid-Day.
He further recalled an old story recalling that a group referred to as “burnout” of players ahead of the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008.
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“As soon as the players realized what the IPL was offering in terms of remuneration for maybe a dozen or so T20 games, the message must have gone out to the organization to just drop the burnout discussion,” he added.
Sunil Gavaskar earlier slammed Rohit Sharma for missing the opening ODI of the three-match series against Australia in a bid to attend his brother-in-law’s wedding. He had said that “You can not have a captain who is there for one match and not there for others. You can’t have a family commitment when it comes to the World Cup.”
Gavaskar also discussed the statement made by Mumbai Indians’ coach Mark Boucher's statement regarding Rohit Sharma's workload management.
“It was refreshing to hear the Mumbai Indians’ coach Mark Boucher saying that a 20-overs-a-side game isn’t a lot of workloads,” Gavaskar wrote.
The ODI World Cup 2023 will begin on October 5 with the finals scheduled for November 19 at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad. India has not won an ICC trophy since the 2013 Champions Trophy and the World Cup in 2011.
Team India advanced to the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2015 and 2019 and the T20 World Cup in 2016 and 2022, while making it into the finals of the 2017 Champions Trophy. They also lost in the final of the ICC World Test championship in 2021.
Ahead of the ODI World Cup, India will play Australia in the ICC WTC 2023 final at the Oval in June.
(Mid-day inputs)
