The IPL final concludes on May 31, leaving a brief six-day gap before the Afghanistan Test begins on June 6 at the Mullanpur Stadium. After this five-day match, India will play three One Day Internationals against Afghanistan, followed by tours of Ireland, England, and Zimbabwe in July.
India May Rest Shubman Gill And Jasprit Bumrah For One-Off Afghanistan Test
According to a report by The Times of India, the minimal gap between the IPL final and the Afghanistan Test has raised concerns over player workload management.
With three ODIs and a white-ball tour of England scheduled soon after, the management is focused on avoiding burnout. The report also noted that the Afghanistan Test does not carry WTC points, making it crucial to manage players carefully amid a long and demanding calendar.
“There is not much gap between the IPL final and the Afghanistan Test, so the selectors and management will be wary of not burning out the players, as there are three ODIs, then the white-ball series in England,” the timesofindia.com quoted a source as saying.
“There are no WTC points in the Afghanistan Test, and the stakeholders need to carefully manage the workload because some of the players would be on the road for close to two months and have a lot of cricket in the remainder of the year,” the source added.
IPL Playoff Outcomes To Influence Rest Calls For Shubman Gill and Jasprit Bumrah
The report added that the resting strategy will depend on how the Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians perform in the IPL playoffs. There are concerns over players switching formats, with limited turnaround time between the Test and ODI series.
“And there is little turnaround time between the Test and ODI series. So you will again be in the situation where a Test and ODI regular – say like Gill, Bumrah, KL Rahul and even Ravindra Jadeja – would switch formats from T20 to Test to ODIs in less than a month’s time. The captain and coach have been very vocal about such scheduling in the past and could have the final say,” adds the source.
According to a report by The Times of India, the selectors are closely monitoring domestic performers, with Manav Suthar and Gurnoor Brar emerging as strong contenders after impressive recent performances.
Young Players In Contention As Workload Management Comes Into Focus
The report also noted that players like Harsh Dubey, Auqib Nabi, and Devdutt Padikkal remain in the selection mix, while Nitish Kumar Reddy’s improvement with the ball has kept him in contention as well.
“One thing is clear with this selection panel: they rarely jump the gun. It’s no secret that Gurnoor and Manav have been very impressive, as have Harsh, Auqib and Devdutt. It will all boil down to the discussions between the thinktank and the medical team because optimum utilisation of resources is going to be key here. No point putting your star players under the sun for a five-day fixture which offers no WTC points.”
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