Cricket News: India's big dilemma - 19 internationals in three months, many players are unfit
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced what India’s cricket schedule will be for the next three months, and it makes for interesting reading for several reasons.
Image credit: PA Images Rohit Sharma will miss the Test Series due to thumb injury.For one, India’s schedule is jam-packed for at least the next six months. This is expected, given that while workload management is very much a thing in Indian cricket, the same cannot be said about letting a packed calendar breathe
And it is packed – a few days after India wrap up their tour of Bangladesh, they fly home and host Sri Lanka for three T20Is and three ODIs.
The exact number of T20Is and ODIs will then be played against New Zealand – yes, despite playing them in November already.
And then comes a four-Test series at home against Australia before three ODIs against the same opposition and a short pause before the Indian Premier League (IPL) starts.
It raises the very valid question of what team the Indian board plans on fielding.
Not only will the rest and rotation policy continue for current players, but they are also dealing with several injuries to players who are either first-choice or critical backups.
Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja have been out of contention for quite a while now, and it seems unlikely either will make a comeback very soon.
But even beyond that, there are players like Deepak Chahar and Kuldeep Sen – one a first-choice player when fit and the other a valuable backup – who are out dealing with niggles.
That’s not even mentioning Rohit Sharma, who sustained a freak thumb injury during the second ODI against Bangladesh and will most likely miss the third ODI and Test series.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Skipper Rohit Sharma suffered a finger injury during the second ODI in Dhaka and will miss the final match in Chattogram 👀<br><br>Further updates from BCCI 👇<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BANvIND?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BANvIND</a><a href="https://t.co/u4C9dc3d8b">https://t.co/u4C9dc3d8b</a></p>— ICC (@ICC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ICC/status/1601245392582373376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 9, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
As of now, there is no timeframe set for his return. So the real question to ponder is how many players India have who are suitable for the cause.
There’s no shortage of talent in the nation, but, as recent times have shown, it’s one thing to do well consistently at the domestic or IPL level and quite the other to do it well on the international stage.
Will the likes of Sanju Samson, Deepak Hooda, Ishan Kishan, and Shubman Gill finally get the opportunities they deserve?
Or will the board turn to newer talent and recall someone like Prithvi Shaw or Ruturaj Gaikwad, both of whom have been doing well in domestic cricket lately?