Following India’s second consecutive ODI series defeat in less than a month, concerns have been raised about their preparations for the World Cup next year. Bangladesh defeated Team India by five runs in the second ODI in Dhaka on Wednesday, taking a 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
Fingers are being pointed at the practice of regularly resting senior cricketers, with the Indian team management now accused of over-experimenting, which has resulted in inconsistency.
Workload management has had a direct impact on an in-form Virat Kohli, who was in fine form during the T20 World Cup 2022. Along with a number of other senior players, he was rested from the limited-overs tour of New Zealand that immediately followed the showpiece event and returned in the ongoing tour of Bangladesh.
However, Kohli scored 9 and 5 in the first two matches of the series, with former India cricketer-turned-commentator Vivek Razdan advising against resting any player who is performing well.
“I would like to make just one suggestion. Stop experimenting. In the past few months, we have seen this happening. Time to halt this line of thinking. There’s been too much of experimentation. Still there’s a lot of time before the ODI World Cup,”
Razdan said while on-air during the 2nd ODI in Dhaka.
In the last three years, 35 players have made their international debut for India. In fact, India used 34 different players in 22 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) in 2022 alone. The West Indies are next on this list, with 28 players in 21 ODIs, while England, the current world champions, have used 25 players in 12 matches.
“Need to understand another thing. When a player is in form, don’t rest him. Let him play. Look at Virat Kohli – he was in good form at the T20 World Cup but then you rested him from the New Zealand tour. Now, he has started struggling again,”
Razdan pointed out.
“A player gets into form by playing (regularly). So please do not rest a player the moment he gets in form. World Cup is now a few months away. A team should have been finalised by now that would play your first match (of the tournament). You would want every player to get into form before that.”
