Picture Credit: BCCI
Bio-bubble fatigue, which was for once an alien word in sports, has become a household name in the recent past. The excessive tightness to keep the players safe from the coronavirus pandemic has started taking a toll on players' physical as well as mental health. Given this word came to existence in the post-COVID era, the players struggled to talk about it at nascent stage. Only after some players even at the highest level opened up and started taking break from the game to gain their mindset back, others too came out to speak on the issue.
Talking about Team India, in particular, the bio-bubble fatigue has now started taking a toll on the health of the players, and their recent embarrassing performance at T20 World Cup 2021 is just one of the telling examples. The likes of Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah have already raised the issue quite a few times but none paid heed to it. However, if a recent media report is to be believed the BCCI has finally decided to contemplate the problem.
We must take into account the fatigue of players: BCCI official
A report carried by InsideSport states that the BCCI is planning to rotate its players, in order to fight the problem. However, it also claimed that the rotation policy would be limited to some series of less importance, while in high-value contests India will keep featuring their best XI.
“We must take into account the fatigue of players. Staying in consecutive bio-bubble is not easy and there will be a need to rotate squad. The New Zealand series will be a start and with the talent we have in the domestic circuit, a lot more players will get a chance at least in T20s while we have a core group for Test,” said a senior BCCI official as quoted by InsideSport.
“We have been discussing the rotation policy for some time now. Rahul had his ideas too. But it will not apply to important tours like England, Australia or South Africa. These are important series and we will need the full squad available. So, it’s important to rotate them if the players feel the need to in home series and other series against smaller nations,” the official added.