Workload management a reason behind absence of Indian players from Ranji Trophy ties

The 2019-20 edition of the Ranji Trophy is currently underway, but not many of the players in the national team are taking part in the tournament. Navdeep Saini missed out Delhi’s match against Hyderabad after citing that he had ‘been asked to rest’. Mayank Agarwal, India’s Test opener, has played a couple of matches versus Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh.

However, it has been learned that he won’t be taking part in the game against Mumbai, starting Friday at the MCA BKC Complex. It also emerged that Shreyas Iyer and Shivam Dube were also ‘advised rest’ by the medical team, which comprises trainer Nick Webb and physio Nitin Patel.

Earlier, Dube and Iyer were slammed for not turning up for the game versus Railways despite being available. Mumbai lost the match by 10 wickets. It has also emerged that skipper Virat Kohli, head coach Ravi Shastri and chief selector MSK Prasad are aware of players being asked to rest.

“Team India’s medical team of the Indian team monitors the workload of all the players in the side. Iyer and Dube were asked to rest as per its advice,” a reliable source in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was quoted as saying in The Times of India (TOI).

There is so much non-stop cricket these days

Mayank has played two games so far, but he needs to rest a bit now because then he will leave with the India A team for New Zealand on January 10. Whenever a player is asked to rest from domestic games, skipper Virat Kohli, coach Ravi Shastri and chief selector MSK Prasad are informed about it.”

Jasprit Bumrah was also asked by the selectors to prove his fitness, playing for Gujarat. But then he was being asked to pull out by Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI president. Moreover, the source put forth the importance of managing the workload of the players in order to keep them fit.

“It’s important to manage the workload of all the India players, so that they’re fresh and fit when they play for India. Sometimes, in this period when they’re asked to rest, they’re supposed to just train for a week and not play any cricket. There is so much non-stop cricket these days that workload management is paramount,” the source added.