IPL 2023: In what comes as a relief for franchises, the BCCI has backed down from issuing conditional NOC for World Cup 2023 shortlisted players. Instead, the National Cricket Academy has shared fitness reports on all the players. Franchise medical team in coordination with NCA will monitor those players who the selectors have shortlisted. Delhi Capitals CEO Dheeraj Malhotra confirmed on Friday that workload of players will be managed throughout the tournament. Follow Indian Premier League 2023 LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN.
Malhotra, who has worked as a general manager with the BCCI, said that the National Cricket Academy (NCA) has shared a detailed workload monitoring report of all the Indian players associated with respective franchises, which obviously helps the IPL team’s medical unit to work in cohesion with the parent body.
Asked if there is a specific directive on workload management of World Cup prospects, Malhotra told PTI: “Not yet. What NCA has done is, it sent a report on all the contracted players.”
“We have Axar, Kuldeep and Prithvi. They have given us what they have been doing and their workload. But we still have not been given a directive on what they want from us and what the workload should be for players,” Dheeraj Malhotra told PTI.
In fact, it is learnt that no franchise will get any directive on India players unless someone is carrying an injury.
“Tell me one thing. In absence of Jassi (Jasprit Bumrah), Mohammed Shami is your pace spearhead going into World Cup. Now if GT again plays finals, then he might have to bowl a maximum of 64 overs (16 games). Suppose NCA tells that Shami should be used for 40 overs at the max, what is the guarantee that he won’t pull a hammy (hamstring)? Can you give it in writing?” a franchise coach, not wanting to be named, counter-questioned.
For a World Cup scheduled in October-November, one cannot ask a private franchise that is paying crores to the players to put in percentage effort. Skipper Rohit Sharma had recently said it will depend on an individual if he wants a break or not.
“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. I doubt (if) that will happen, but…,” Rohit had said after the third ODI against Australia.
The skipper had also admitted that it will be the franchise’s call how they want to use the players. “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.”
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