'What workload dude?' - Ravi Ashwin reveals shocking comment by a doctor on players' workload management

As Team India prepares for the upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy, Ravichandran Ashwin will be one of the team's most important players and will be the one that Australia would look out for. The 36-year-old has been an integral part of the Indian Test squad over the years. 

The Indian side recently hosted Sri Lanka and New Zealand in January 2023, and played a total of six T20Is and as many ODIs. While the T20I side saw Hardik Pandya stepping into the leadership role and working on a young team, senior members like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were only a part of the ODIs.

Ashwin, alongside his all-round skills is also popular in his weekly cricket round-up show on his YouTube channel, where he talks about various topics and even takes questions from the viewers. He recently shared his opinion on workload management, the topic of his show last week. He then requested the viewers to share their views, and the 36-year-old was left perplexed reading one of the responses.

"One of the users commented, 'What workload, dude? In our days, we played non-stop anywhere and everywhere without wearing slippers too. So, what difficulty do you have playing? Stop complaining.' This was his comment, and he was a doctor as well. I don’t know if he is a real doctor or an aspiring one," said Ashwin in the video. 

Workload management has been a hot topic over the last couple of years

Workload management has been discussed frequently in cricket, all around the world. England all-rounder Ben Stokes took a big step by deciding to take a break from playing international cricket due to fatigue. Speaking about the same, Ashwin opined that elite-level cricket cannot even be compared to first-class cricket.

"The level of intensity won’t be the same. People who work five days a week and play during the weekend will wonder how good it will be if they play for all seven days. However, many of you may have experienced pain in hand and leg while playing. I am not stressing about the pain. Every player will have pain, but it is their profession," Ashwin added.

The 36-year-old also added that only players know what they go through, and it is very easy for one to comment from the outside without even having an idea of what the situation is like. As the Test series between India and Australia is set to get underway from February 9, the players will have to be physically and mentally fit in order to play under pressure situations.