The former Indian coach and all-time, all weather commentator, Ravi Shastri expresses concern over the star players of the team getting injured especially at the crucial hours. The statement from Shastri comes at a time when two important bowling gems of India namely, Deepak Chahar and Jasprit Bumrah have been ruled out of the T20 world cup due to injuries.
And what Ravi Shastri tries to convey through his message on the program me organized by Mumbai Press Club (Meet the Media Program me), looks completely justified.
His only question is why injuries are so frequent? But he also at the same time feels that Players should be given rest, looking at the given scenarios. Look at what he said,
With the volume of cricket that exists today, it’s extremely important that you get the balance right of how much a player plays. When should he be rested? And there, a president can play a big role. Tomorrow, if a cricketer, for the sake of playing for India, needs to be rested in the IPL for a certain number of games, so be it. The Board president has to sit with the franchise and explain that he’s extremely important for India first, and then the franchise,
Ravi Shastri
On the growing number of injuries, Ravi said,
It was the most frustrating thing for me as (India coach) when you lose key players to injuries
Ravi Shastri
While expressing his frustration he also spoke about how Bhuveneshwar Kumar missed the England and New Zealand tour to injury and where he could have grabbed a bagful of wickets. Speaking Bumrah he said,
Bumrah has played 5 matches since the last T20 World Cup and he’s injured. So, you’ve got to look at it very seriously, as to why it is happening,
Ravi touched based upon many things including Surya’s form and the kind of shots he plays, he said,
He’s got the audacity to try and hit the ball against which the field is placed, which means that you need to get into position early. You’ll see some shots that he plays. I’ve not seen too many players play those shots. AB (de Villiers) at his prime probably did this for a bit. You don’t hit a ball from middle and leg to the sight screen at the back! I mean, it was an unheard of shot in our time. But he does it so easily and regularly, that you’ve to take your hat off to him. He can light up the T20 World Cup.
So, overall he touched upon the entire cricket team in bits and pieces but very importantly, he mentioned the name of the newly appointed BCCI president twice. First on the topic where players are needed rest over Franchise interest and secondly when he stressed upon the cricket facilities that needs to be improved.
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