Picture Credit: Twitter

Picture Credit: Twitter

With the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 just a few months away, the Indian players and management are under tremendous pressure from their loyal fans and former cricketers to end the wait of not winning the silverware for over 10 years. The last time Team India won an ICC trophy was in 2013 when MS Dhoni led them to a Champions Trophy triumph.


To end the trophy drought later this year at home, BCCI decided to make Yo-Yo and Dexa test a criteria for selection in the Indian team earlier this year citing regular injuries among players before or during the tournament. A statement on the BCCI website read, “Men’s FTP and preparations for ICC CWC 2023, the NCA will work in tandem with the IPL Franchisee to monitor the targeted Indian players participating in the IPL 2023.”


Recently, on his Mid-Day article, Sunil Gavaskar - the legendary Indian cricketer from the 70s and the 80s shared his opinion about the workload of Indian players, “It was refreshing to hear the Mumbai Indians’ coach Mark Boucher pooh pooh the workload question, saying that a 20-overs-a-side game isn’t a lot of workload.”


Gavaskar remembered the reactions from players’ organisations about the burnout question when the Indian Premier League began some 15 years ago. He categorically stated, “Just before the IPL started in 2008, there was a lot of noise about burnout started by a players’ organisation. As soon as the players realised what the IPL was offering in terms of remuneration for maybe a dozen or so T20 games, the message must have gone out to the organisation to just drop the burnout discussion.”


ICC Hall of Famer Sunil Gavaskar described the workload as a perfect excuse from the players to not play for their country while calling them "a generation with beach bodies and a pampered mindset". He also mentioned that if India fails to win the World Cup this time, the careers of few international players could end for good.