Mumbai Indians head coach Mark Boucher has said that the franchise will allow captain and star batsman Rohit Sharma to “rest one or two games” and “adapt to different situations”. With two showpiece ICC events coming up in the next few months and with Team India facing a packed schedule, workload management has been a top priority for Team India skipper Rohit.
“With regards to resting Rohit, he is the captain. Hopefully, he gets into some good sort of form and I hope he doesn’t want to rest. But yes, we all adapt to different situations. If I can get the best out of him as a captain and player, that will be great. If it means he wants to rest one or two games, then I will do that. Absolutely, no problem,” Boucher said during an interaction with reporters in Mumbai on Wednesday ahead of the new season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Also read – IPL 2023: BCCI to Track Workload of India Test And ODI Regulars
Rohit himself had spoken quite often about the need for the Indian players to “take care of their bodies”. The Indian skipper said after the ODI series against Australia earlier this month, “It is all up to the franchises now. The franchises own them now. We have given some indications to the teams, but at the end of the day, it is up to the franchise, and most importantly, the players. They have to take care of their own bodies. They are all adults.”
“If they feel that it is getting a little too much they can always talk about it and have a break in one or two games,” the Indian captain suggested.
According to an Indian Express report on March 29, Rohit had planned to sit out a few matches in the IPL and Suryakumar Yadav is expected to take over the reins of Mumbai Indians in the absence of the regular skipper.
Rohit revealed during the pre-IPL chat on Wednesday that he has had a “long chat” with the players on the ways in which they can manage their workload.
Also read – IPL 2023: Rohit Sharma May Not Play Every Match, Suryakumar Yadav To Step In, Says Report
“After the last ODI, we had a long chat with the boys. We have talked to the players and told them to look after their bodies. When they go to play for their respective franchises, it is not much that they can control. It is up to the franchises, their physios and trainers and medical teams on how to handle their players. All these are adults and they know how to manage the entire situation and come back fresh for the final (WTC),” Rohit said.
Rohit reiterated Boucher’s point that the Mumbai Indians were open to adapting to situations are flexible about resting players. “In our team (Mumbai Indians), we have got so many young players who haven’t played a lot of cricket, so there is no question about workload management for them. But look, during the season, if something happens and we have to adapt to it, we will adapt to it,” Rohit said.
“If we have to look after our players, if we have to rest a few of our bowlers, then we will give them rest. We have been very flexible in terms of getting the players right on the park. We will follow the same procedure that we have been doing with MI all these years. We will keep assessing who needs what, and who will need a break. If the situation demands for us to give someone a break, we will do that. We have got a fine medical team with some of the most experienced physios and trainers. We will hear them out and see what is the right call to be made for an individual,” he added.
News18 CricketNext had reported on March 23 that BCCI Secretary Jay Shah had directed the National Cricket Academy (NCA) to closely monitor the workload of India Test and ODI regulars right through the IPL and a player carrying a niggle will not be rushed into action under no circumstances.
Key members of the Indian team Shreyas Iyer and Jasprit Bumrah have already been sidelined due to injuries and ace wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant is out indefinitely following a car crash, In such a scenario, India can ill-afford any more injuries, especially with the World Test Championship Final and ICC World Cup just around the corner.
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