T20 World Cup LIVE – BCCI Unhappy with Bowling Coach & Bumrah’s statements: Team India’s bowling coach statement of less gap between IPL & T20 World Cup hasn’t gone down well with the BCCI bosses. Coach Bharat Arun declared on Sunday that ‘team has been continuously traveling since last 6 months & gap between IPL 2021 & T20 World Cup would have helped the team’. Earlier in the week Jasprit Bumrah spoke about the BIO-BUBBLE fatigue. But these statements haven’t gone down well with the BCCI.
India suffered embarrassing losses to Pakistan and New Zealand and have already exited from the World Cup.
“As far as bio-bubble fatigue is concerned, players are not forced to play in the IPL. If Virat or Jasprit thought World Cup was more important, they could have withdrawn from IPL. BCCI provided them with all the facilities and has allowed families to be with them. We are all in a difficult time due to Covid,” a senior BCCI official told InsideSport.
T20 World Cup LIVE: BCCI fuming after bowling coach, Bumrah’s ‘fatigue claims’, says ‘no one forced them to play in IPL’
T20 World Cup LIVE – BCCI Unhappy with Bowling Coach & Bumrah’s statements, is Indian team giving excuses? India’s World Cup campaign in UAE has been nothing less than disappointing. Even before the last league game vs Namibia, India’s exit from the tournament is confirmed. When on Sunday, team’s bowling coach was asked on why he thinks team has given disappointing performance in UAE? He like Jasprit Bumrah couple of days ago has blamed fatigue and less gap between IPL 2021 & T20 World Cup as one of the reason for India’s pathetic performance in the ongoing World Cup.
“Being on the road for six months is a huge ask, the players have not gone home ever since they had a short break after the last IPL. They are in a bubble for the last six months, which takes a huge toll. So very specific to your question, a short break between the IPL and World Cup would have done a lot of good for these boys.”
The comments came after Jasprit Bumrah spoke about continuous cricket and bio-bubble fatigue. Most of the senior Indian players have been in bio-bubbles since the Australia tour. While the suspension of IPL 2021 and a 14-day break after WTC Finals in England helped, the continuous bubble has not helped.
The Australia tour was followed by the home series against England and then IPL 2021. After a month-long gap, India toured England for the WTC Final and then five-match Test series against England. It was followed by IPL 2021 Phase 2 and then the T20 World Cup. The Indian players have spent the last two months completely in bio-bubble with no social interaction outside the hotel rooms and stadiums.
“Sometimes you need a break. You miss your family sometimes. You’ve been on the road for six months. So all of that sometimes play on the back of your mind. But when you’re on the field, you don’t think of all those things. You don’t control a lot of things, how the scheduling goes on or what tournament is played when. So obviously staying in a bubble and staying away from your family for such a long period of time does play a role on the player’s mind as well,” Jasprit Bumrah said after India’s loss to New Zealand.
India’s outgoing head coach Ravi Shastri echoed Bumrah’s words on Monday. “I am mentally drained but I expect that at my age. These guys are physically and mentally drained, six months in a bubble and we would have ideally liked a bigger gap between the IPL and the World Cup,” said Shastri.
While many backed the Indian players over bubble fatigue, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar was not impressed with Bumrah’s comments and nor the BCCI either. They felt it was rather a lame excuse after a poor show in the first two matches.
“The fatigue had nothing to do with the two losses. Our cricketers go a week’s break after the IPL Final and then another week’s break after the Pakistan match. So, I don’t know how they can claim they were fatigued. They had the best chance to recover. If you look at Sri Lanka or Bangladesh, they didn’t have enough time,” the BCCI official told InsideSport.
T20 World Cup: BCCI dismisses Jasprit Bumrah’s bio-bubble fatigue claims, says ‘No one forced them to play in IPL’
However, the relentless scheduling has had its first victim in Virat Kohli, who has lost his form and has quit T20 captaincy due to workload management. While BCCI refuses to acknowledge bubble fatigue is of any concern, the board has planned to rest senior players for the T20I series against New Zealand at home.
“The workload management has always been our priority and if players need rest, they will definitely get that. Going forward, we will look at rotating senior team squad but that’s just an idea and we need to keep in mind the demand to watch the big players play not just from fans but also from commercial partners. So, it is a big decision and in due course, it will be deliberated,” the BCCI official told InsideSport.
T20 World Cup: Is bubble fatigue to be blamed for India’s horror show in World Cup?
- Indian team had to be in 14-day isolation before the Australia series in November 2020.
- After the long tour, players got a week’s break before entering bio-bubble for England series at home.
- Most of the players entered the IPL bubble immediately after that.
- England series was immediately followed by IPL 2021 Phase 1.
- After IPL 2021 was suspended, players received a month’s break.
- After the break, India players entered two separate bio-bubbles — first for 10 days in Mumbai and then another bubble for WTC Final against New Zealand.
- It was followed by a three-week break and then the England Test series which was not held in a bio-security bubble.
- But following a Covid scare in the Indian camp, players were put into isolation ahead of the 5th Test.
- As Indian players refused to take the field, the match was abandoned and players entered IPL’s bio-bubble in UAE.
- The month-long IPL was followed by T20 World Cup bubble.
- For some players like Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya who were not part of the England tour, travelled to Sri Lanka and spent a month in bio-bubble and isolation.
Whatever the reason is – the truth is that India is already dumped out of the World Cup and that too without even reaching Semifinals stage.
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