'Are Jawans On Border Complaining?': Gavaskar Slams India's Workload Management
Sunil Gavaskar believes workload management is a 'mental issue' and India players should learn from 'jawans on the border' before using it as a reason to not play for the country.
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar wants the men's team to wipe out the term 'workload' from their dictionary, citing Mohammed Siraj and Rishabh Pant as examples of how players should forget their aches and pains for the country. He labeled workload as a 'mental thing', stating that the current crop needs to learn from the army men on the national border who weren't complaining about things like the cold.
Workload management started as a buzzword in the last decade but now has become an important aspect of all cricket, backed by science and analysis. Because the number of matches has gone up and there are fewer days of break between two high-intensity encounters, teams around the world aim to pick some days of rest for their players, seeing it as an opportunity to keep them injury-free and test other players.
'Mohammed Siraj debunked forever this business of workload," Gavaskar told India Today. 'I hope that the workload word gets taken out of Indian cricket dictionary. For 5 Test matches, non-stop he has bowled 7-8 over spells, because the captain wanted him and the country expected of him. And that is one thing I think people keep in mind that workload is a mental thing, not a physical thing and if you are going to succumb to people who are talking about workload, then you are never going to have your best players on the field for your country," he added.
While Siraj was the only pacer across both teams to feature in every innings available to his team, Rishabh Pant came out to bat despite suffering a fracture in his foot during the fourth Test.
'When you are playing for your country, forget the aches and the pains. On the border, do you think that the jawans are complaining about cold? Here in cricket, give your best for the country, don't worry about the aches and pains. What did Rishabh Pant show you? He came out to bat with a fracture. That is what you expect from the players. Playing cricket in India is an honour. You are representing 140 crore people and that is what we saw in Mohammed Siraj," Gavaskar added.
India drew England 2-2 in the series with a nail-biting win at the Oval.
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