Rohit Sharma expresses his concerns over 'Player Workload Management' during the Indian T20 League

India’s skipper Rohit Sharma has said it is “up to the franchise” on managing player workloads during the Indian T20 League. He also expressed doubts over players pulling out if required. 

After the conclusion of the ODI series against Australia, Rohit said “"It's all up to the franchise now. Franchises own them now. We've given them some indications or some kind of borderline kind of things to teams. But at the end of the day, it's up to the franchises and most importantly it's the players. They have to take care of their own body. They are all adults. So they have to look after their body and adjust if they feel like it's getting a little too much, they can always talk about it and have a break in 1-2 games. I doubt that'll happen but".  

The statement comes following the questions being raised with many key players getting injured, thereby directing the focus towards player workload management. India are currently without the services of Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer, few of their first choice players who did not compete in the just concluded India-Australia series. 

"Look it is concerning because if the players are not available it is concerning. And we are missing players who are actually Playing XI players. They regularly play in the playing XI. Honestly, everyone is trying their best to get everyone in the park. We've been focussing a lot on management of the players. Which is why you keep seeing, we have to rest certain players at certain points of time. From our side we could do our best in terms of handling them. I mean, I'm not a specialist to tell you why the recurring injuries are happening. Of course the medical team of ours is definitely looking into all of this and making sure that come the World Cup we've got our best 15 players ready," said Rohit.

“Obviously, when you play so much cricket, injuries are bound to happen. So not looking too much into it, what's available to you, what's in your hand you can control that. Not looking too much into what's available to you, what's in your hand you can control that. We're just trying to control all of that. Players are frustrated as well. They want to play, they don't want to miss out. It is a little sad but at the end of the day, you cannot really do much. I can see and can vouch for it that the people working behind the scenes are working really hard with all these players. Freakish injury can happen at any time. Shreyas was the best example. He was sitting the whole day, and he just went to take a knock and the injury happened to him. There's nothing you could do about it. I mean the only thing we can keep in mind is managing players and giving them enough weeks and I think from our side we're doing that," he added.

With the World Test Championship final just a week after the end of the Ind T20 League, there has already been careful examination on player preparation. Rohit had earlier hinted that the players opting out of the Ind T20 League could be asked to head to England before the final at ‘The Oval’

Mohammad Shami earlier in the series too had been questioned concerning the workload management and he had said ”There's still time for the WTC Final and the World Series and as a player, it is not possible to think that long-term. You don't know what will happen tomorrow. You need to be smart in terms of managing your workload. When you play international cricket, you know how much you need to work on. You understand your body well and that's why you should not think long term and take it series by series.

"I know my body well and can handle workload, so I am taking it match by match."