Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar launched a scathing attack on the senior Indian cricketers over their fitness issues and excuse of lack of preparation. This comes after India captain Rohit Sharma spoke about the same after defeat to Australia in final of World Test Championship (WTC 2023).
The former opener, who is celebrating his 74th birthday today on July 10, 2023, said that he doesn’t see the team doing anything to correct the lack of preparation issue.
Gavaskar also touched upon the issue of the fitness of the Indian team which has measures like yo-yo test and other parameters to keep testing the physical and mental well being of the members of the Indian team.
While on paper, the current crop of players might be the fittest of all in Indian cricket history, legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar isn't able to understand how such 'fit' players face recurrent workload issues in the age of T20 cricket.
Sunil Gavaskar critical of Rohit Sharma’s captaincy, demands more accountability for coaching staff
"What kind of preparation are we talking about? Now they have gone to the West Indies. You have the example of the World Test Championship before you. Are you playing any matches? So what is this talk about 20-25 days? ... When you talk about preparation, be genuine about it. Go 15 days before, play two warm-up matches. The main guys can rest, but the fringe players might be actually challenging those who are not doing well. He does not get an opportunity to show that he is good enough," said the former India captain in a chat with Indian Express.
Gavaskar believes that because they are almost certain to make the team, the senior players don't want to leave early for such tours to prepare ahead of time. Additionally, going early is likely to spark workload talk among cricket players, which puzzles Gavaskar.
"The truth is the main guys do not want to go early. Because they know that come what may, they will get selected. And when you go early they will talk about the workload. You call yourself the fittest team in the world or fitter than the early generations then how do you break down so soon? How do you have a workload issue when you play a 20-over game?", he said.
