And after that Team India fly off to South Africa for a full tour (Tests, ODIs and T20Is), which begins with the first Test starting December 17. The second Test is scheduled till December 7.
The NZ series ends with two Tests in Kanpur and Mumbai.
Hypothetically if India had made it to the final, they would have been in the same position that the Kiwis found themselves in – playing an international bilateral series (which started on November 17), barely two days after a World Cup final (November 14). India were knocked out in the Super 12 stage itself, which meant the players who were selected for the T20I series vs New Zealand got a mini break, if we could call it that, before the series against the Black Caps began. India of course started their campaign in the Super 12 stage and played their first match on October 24, but the players selected in the Indian squad had to hit their reset buttons after the IPL and make this very quick turnaround to be in World Cup mode.
Their work starts from the moment they leave their homes and are on the road travelling for various assignments. You don’t have to play every single match.įrom the outside it might look all glitzy and glamorous, but being in constant bio-bubbles is a very tough thing to do.Īnother thing that needs to be kept in mind while discussing player workload is that the players are not just in action while playing the matches.
Mental tiredness needs to be a factor too. One that said – it’s alright to take a break when you think you need one, even if you are not physically tired. Glenn Maxwell’s decision to pull out in the middle of a series in 2019 because he needed to take a mental break might have surprised some, but it was a very important message to others. In the post Covid world, the mental health aspect of players and the possible threat of player burnout is rightfully being talked about more and more as well. The Kiwis who were part of the NZ squad for the tour of India had to almost immediately after the World Cup final pack their bags and travel to India. New Zealand captain Kane Williamson too realised he needed rest after the T20 World Cup, in which the Kiwis made it all the way to the final, and decided to skip the T20I series vs India. Virat is in that bracket of Indian players who play all formats of the game and are almost constantly on the road. It wasn’t a surprise really to see Virat Kohli being rested after the World Cup for the entire T20I series vs New Zealand and the first Test. Player rotation, adequate rest, pinpointing specific players for specific formats, building a second and third rung of players who can step in whenever needed therefore have steadily become areas that National Boards and team managements have started looking at more and more seriously. The Indian senior mens cricket team is one of the premier cricket teams in the world and their workload too, like that of other top teams, has become extremely heavy. The pandemic forced multiple countries to postpone or cancel cricket fixtures.īut overall, when sport can be played, the workload is a heavy one. The last 2 year period has been a slight anomaly because of the Covid-19 situation, which hit the sporting calendar quite hard.
There is no doubt that the number of cricket matches that players have to play have multiplied manifold over the last two decades or so. One term that we have been hearing a fair bit in discussions about international cricket for a while now is – player workload management.