Rohit Sharma Breaks Silence On India Cricket Team’s Growing Injury List, Says ‘They Are All Adults’
New Delhi: India captain Rohit Sharma minced no words stating the national teams players are all ‘adults’ and have to look after their body, addressing to the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Shreyas Iyer who are nursing injuries at the moment.
One of the premier pacers in the Indian line-up, Jasprit Bumrah is out of action since September 2022 and missed the T20 World Cup and the just-concluded Border Gavaskar Trophy and the ODIs against Australia.
Reports are coming that the Mumbai Indians pacer is in doubt for Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. On the other hand Iyer, complained of back pain during the forurth Test against Australia and did not come out to back in the game.
He also missed the ODI series against the Aussies and is also doubtful for the initial stages of IPL 2023. Iyer is the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders franchise. With the ODI World Cup fast approaching in October-November in the country, Rohit said the onus is on the players.
“It is concerning. We are missing the players who are actually the playing XI players,” Rohit told after India’s 1-2 ODI series loss against Australia on Wednesday.
“They (players) are all adults. So they have to look after their body and just if they feel that it’s getting a little too much, they can always talk about it and have a break in one or two games.
The IPL 2023 starts on March 31 with Gujarat Titans playing Chennai Super Kings. The final is on May 28. Post that the Indian players will get little over a week to get ready for the World Test Championships final to be played at the Oval in London from June 7.
Rohit said the Indian team management has given ‘indications’ to the IPL franchise owners about workload management of the players, keeping the 50-over showpiece in mind. “It’s all up to the franchises now.
“The franchises own them (the players) now, so we’ve given some indications or some kind of borderline kind of thing to the teams. At the end of the day it’s up to the franchise and, most importantly it’s the players, they have to take care of their own body.”
Rohit, who will lead Mumbai Indians in the upcoming edition of IPL, said that the players are frustrated as well. “Players are frustrated as well. They want to play, they don’t want to miss out. So it’s a little sad, but at the end of the day, you cannot really do too much,” he added.
Rohit said the medical team is doing everything possible to ensure the well being of the players. “I can see, and I can vouch for it, that the people working behind the scenes are working really hard with all these players, and freakish injury can happen at any point in time, like Shreyas (Iyer) was the best example.
“He was sitting the whole day and he just went to take a knock and the injury happened to him. And there’s nothing you could do about it, the only thing we can keep in mind is managing players and giving them enough breaks. And I think from our side we’re doing that.”