Legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar has questioned senior Indian players being rested for international matches even though they do not skip the Indian Premier League. In the past few months, several Indian stars including Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah were rested for a series of series which raised questions on the BCCI’s selection policy. Kohli and Rohit have been going through a rough patch with the bat and the selectors have tried to ease their workload by resting them in several series.
Recently, the BCCI announced a squad for the ODI series against West Indies with several senior stars including Rohit, Kohli, Bumrah, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya being rested while Shikhar Dhawan was named the captain.
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While Gavaskar criticized the cricketers for taking rest in the shortest format of the game as he feels that 20 overs in an innings does not affect the body.
“Look I don’t agree with the players resting (during) India match). not at all. You are playing for India. You don’t rest during IPL but you rest while playing for India. I do not agree with this. You have to play for India. Don’t talk about rest. There are only 20 overs in an innings in T20. It does not affect your body. The mind and body are affected in Test matches, but in T20 cricket (playing) there is not much problem. Play Tack.
The legendary India cricketer further suggested that the BCCI should work on its strategy of resting the players as he emphasized that the players who are placed in the Grade A category earn a decent amount of money.
Gavaskar wants BCCI to become more professional as he said that cricketers who want to take rest at regular intervals should have their contracts terminated.
“I honestly feel that BCCI needs to look into this concept of rest. All the Grade A cricketers have got very good contracts. He gets paid for every match. Tell me is there any company whose CEO or MD gets so much time? I think a line has to be drawn if Indian cricket has to become more professional. If you want to relax, you have to lower your guarantee. Then you rest because you don’t want to play. But how can anyone say that I don’t want to play for the Indian team? So I do not agree with this concept.’
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