2020 has been an unusual year because of the pandemic.
While it resulted in India’s cricketers being out of action for several months, the return has been even more hectic than the usually busy calendar.
Following nearly two months of the IPL, India’s players are in the midst of playing three T20Is, three ODIs and six First-Class games, including four Tests, in the span of just eight weeks.
Cautious approach
No wonder then that the team management has been treading carefully when it comes to managing its pace-bowling stocks Down Under. While Jasprit Bumrah and Navdeep Saini missed the T20I series after playing three and two ODIs respectively, Mohammed Shami played a T20I and two ODIs.
India skipper Virat Kohli spelt out the pacers’ workload management process after the third T20I in Sydney.
“It is important to understand that you need guys fresh for the first Test. You need to take some calls with playing so many games. The fact that we have played six games in absolutely no time is something that we all need to address and be wary of,” Kohli said on Tuesday.
“You do not want guys starting the Test match feeling sore or feeling like their legs have had too many miles in them.”
While veteran pacer Ishant Sharma has been ruled out of the Test series, starting in Adelaide on December 17, Bumrah, Shami and Saini have had a heavy workload in the IPL. Saini also has an injury scare, after complaining of a back spasm ahead of the ODI series.
“We keep constantly communicating with the bowlers, asking them how their bodies are feeling, and they have been pretty professional and pretty good in communicating back what they need. We need to show absolute trust and faith in their processes and make sure they are in the right head-space heading into the first Test,” Kohli said.
Fitness is paramount
He added that fitness more than skill would be the most important factor ahead of the first Test and the team’s focus is on ensuring the first-choice eleven are fully fit.
“We have a feeling our game is at a certain level but what is more important is that we are physically fresh. In a five-day game, we cannot afford a niggle or muscle strain. We want our key players to be physically fit. To start the series well, we need to have the fittest eleven on the park.”
With less than a week left for the first Test, it would be interesting to see whether Bumrah and Shami, who haven’t featured in a First-Class game for a long time, will play the three-day, floodlit warm-up match at the Sydney Cricket Ground starting Friday.
