Updated February 4th, 2020 at 14:07 IST
Aakash Chopra slams India's hectic international schedule after Rohit Sharma's injury
Former Team India cricketer Aakash Chopra tweeted about the team's hectic schedule in the last ten months which seems to be make a lot of players overworked.
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Whenever Aakash Chopra is away from the commentary box, the former Team India opener often shares his insights about the game on his social media handles. On Monday, it was declared that India's white-ball vice-captain Rohit Sharma had been ruled out of the ODI and Test series in New Zealand due to a calf injury. This update was enough to make Chopra curious about India's schedule in international cricket.
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Aakash Chopra slams international schedule for being too hectic
Pandya, Bhuvi, Chahar, Bumrah and Rohit....five of India’s KEY players have been injured in the last 8-10months. (Not counting Dhawan because of the freak nature of his injuries) Reasonably serious and workload related injuries. Is India playing too much International cricket?
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash)
Chopra, who usually gets trolled for his insights, did have a point as some of India's most important players have suffered similar fates in the last year. While most of these players were able to play the IPL and the World Cup, troubles began to pop up soon. Hardik Pandya suffered from a back injury, Bhuvneshwar Kumar suffered from sports hernia, Deepak Chahar suffered from a back injury, Jasprit Bumrah picked up a stress fracture in his back and now Rohit Sharma has sustained a calf injury.
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Aakash Chopra alleged that maybe the Indian team is playing too much iInternational cricket and Chopra's statement could not be termed to be completely false. Since June of 2019, here is every cricket tournament that India has played.
- ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 - July 2019
- India tour of West Indies - August 2019
- South Africa tour of India - September 2019
- Bangladesh tour of India - November 2019
- West Indies tour of India - December 2019
- Sri Lanka tour of India - January 2020
- Australia tour of India - January 2020
- India tour of New Zealand - January 2020
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It will be up to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to determine if their main players need better workload management but for now, Chopra has brought a very important issue into the limelight. Here is a discussion he had with a fan who replied to his comment.
Data doesn't suggest so. In 2008, as many as 5 Team India players played more than 100 days of Cricket (including IPL, First Class, List A & T20). In 2019, the number was 0. Total international match days involving Team India players (including IPL) shows similar trend
— Sanjog Gupta (@Sanjog_G)
Also, it’s indeed a little tough to play two 3-match series in two weeks and then travel half the planet (within 4 days) to play 5 more in 10 days. Thoda zyada intense hai, me feels.
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash)
India will now play three ODIs and two Tests in New Zealand followed by the South Africans visiting India for three ODIs in March.
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Published February 4th, 2020 at 14:07 IST