BCCI to decide on resting players amid concerns over bio-bubble fatigue

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to assess the situation regarding bubble fatigue and exhaustion after top Indian cricketers raised the issue of playing in bio-bubbles without sufficient breaks.

Newly appointed head coach Rahul Dravid, along with BCCI secretary Jay Shah, will be part of a team that will look after the process, according to The Indian Express. The head coach had earlier expressed concern regarding the issue in his meeting with the Cricket Advisory Committee.

Also Read: A new era beckons Indian cricket under Rahul Dravid

As bubble fatigue is being considered as one of the primary reasons for the early exit of the India team from the T20 World Cup, BCCI will try to avoid bio-bubbles from taking a mental toll on the players, the report added.

According to a BCCI official's statement to The Indian Express, the board will decide on which players are to be rested based on how much cricket is being played. The report added that BCCI is aware of the fatigue issue and assured that the players rested will get their place back in the team, irrespective of how well the replacements perform.

The team's trainer will be required to submit a report to the head coach regarding the players' fitness for assessmenet, based on which the team will be selected.

Rohit Sharma has been officially declared as the team's new T20 captain after Kohli was rested along with other A-listers such as Ravindra Jadeja and pace-specialist Jasprit Bumrah for the three-match T20 series against New Zealand.

Following his stepping down as head coach, Ravi Shastri stated that prolonged periods inside the bio-bubble can exhaust the players which will affect high-pressure games. He also stated this to be the reason behind skipper Virat Kohli' s dip in form. “I don’t read too much into Virat’s form. I don’t care who the player is. If you put even Don Bradman in the bubble, his average will come down. Eventually, the bubble will burst,” he had said.

Also Read: Even if you are Bradman, sooner or later the bubble will burst: Shastri on life in bio-secure environments

Former T20 captain Virat Kohli claimed to have gone with a balanced approach to workload management, ahead of the clash against arch-rivals Pakistan. “I understand we’ve lost some time without cricket (during the pandemic) but in trying to cover that up, if you lose players then world cricket is not going to be better off. So there has to be a balance in the future,” he said.

Earlier, Axar Patel, who was brought in as a standby for the T20 tournament, was given permission to leave just one day prior to the match against Afghanistan following complaints by the left-arm spinner regaring bubble fatigue.

While the next few months look packed, the core Indian team have been on tour since June, which includes the World Test Championship and Test series against England, both held in England, and the IPL and T20 World Cup in the UAE that followed.

The Indian team will face New Zealand, later this month, for three T20 Internationals and two Test matches, while the South Africa tour will take place next month, where the teams will play three Tests, three ODIs, and four T20s. Following the two-month tour against the Proteas, the players will travel back to play three ODIs and three T20s against the West Indies. India will then face Sri Lanka, just five days after the series ends, till March 18, which will be succeeded by the next IPL.

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