‘Board Has To Tell IPL Franchises…’: Ravi Shastri Suggests Hard Stance For World Cup-Bound Players

Injury concerns are growing for Team India in a year when the Rohit Sharma-led side is set to take part in the World Test Championship (WTC) final, the Asia Cup and the ODI World Cup on home soil. Star pacer Jasprit Bumrah is battling a long-term injury and will the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), as well as the WTC final. Now, reports have been doing round that batter Shreyas Iyer too has been ruled out of action for a lengthy period.

Following the series defeat to Australia, India captain Rohit stressed on the need for players to have enough rest ahead of the congestion of marquee fixtures.

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has also emphasised the importance of workload management, saying that the players and the board need to have serious talk over the same.

“I find it hard to imagine (increase in injuries). You look at era we played in, the facilities that were available at that time. You found players playing 8-10 years easily. Lot of them would play 8-10 months of the year. I really don’t know.. probably the volume of cricket has increased, no questions about that. There are different leagues around the world. The rest period is decreasing,” Shastri told Sports Yaari.

Shastri further suggested that if required, players should skip IPL, saying that the board should take the stand against the franchise owners.

“The establishment and players will have to sit across the table. You need that much cricket and you need to give certain break. Even if it happens to be IPL. Board has to take the stand there, tell the franchises, ‘listen, we need them. India need them. For India’s sake, if he doesn’t play those games, it will be good’,” he added.