National interest is paramount – Ravi Shastri on managing Indian players’ workload in the IPL

Indian team has a hectic schedule in the ICC Future tour programme. The national team mostly plays all around the year across the globe. Furthermore, the players are involved in the IPL, which has its own window in the cricket calendar and it lasts for two months.

As a result, it is not easy for the team’s think tank to manage players’ workload to keep them fresh and at the top of their fitness. In fact, it has been noticed due to fatigue, players often get injured at the wrong time, which hurts the national team.

Ravi Shastri wants the BCCI president to sit with IPL franchises in order to manage the workload of the Indian players in the league. The current commentator stated that national interest is paramount and it needs to be given preference ahead of the IPL.

“With the volume of cricket that exists today, it’s extremely important that you get the balance right of how much a player plays. When should he be rested? And there, a (BCCI) president can play a big role. Tomorrow, if a cricketer, for the sake of playing for India, needs to be rested in the IPL for a certain number of games, so be it. Where, a (BCCI) president has to sit with the franchise and explain that he’s extremely important for India first, and then the franchise,” Shastri told Ayaz Memon at a ‘Meet-the-media programme’.

“Discussions can take place with the team management, as to which are the players who need rest, who, if they carry on in this fashion, will be spent forces. And then take that forward to the franchise. In no way getting in the way of the franchise, but in a nice way telling them that he’s an important player for India. National interest is paramount.”

Recently, India suffered a huge blow as Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah have been ruled out of the T20 World Cup 2022 with a knee and a back injury respectively.

Meanwhile, former Indian World Cup-winning player Roger Binny is all set to replace Sourav Ganguly as BCCI president.