India opener Shikhar Dhawan has jumped to the defence of players taking rest from international matches, saying if a cricketer plays back-to-back he will get "mentally tired".
Big names like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma took rest from several international matches this year. In an exclusive interaction with indiatoday.in, Dhawan reasoned that there is rotation in international cricket so that players get rest.
"A player has to get fresh to give peak performance. If a player plays back-to-back, he will get mentally tired. It is important to give rest mentally. If you see there is rotation in international cricket so that players get rest. If a player travels everywhere, he will get tired. At the end of the day, a cricketer is a human. I feel people at top level understand and accordingly plan to keep a nice balance," Dhawan told indiatoday.in on the sidelines of launch of his Da One Sports.
Both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma missed the home T20I series against South Africa just after the conclusion of 2022 Indian Premier League. After the successful limited-overs series against England, Kohli was rested for the tours of West Indies and Zimbabwe. Rohit, on the other hand, returned to lead India in T20Is after missing the ODI leg against West Indies. The India captain has also been rested for Zimbabwe series. Shikhar Dhawan, who led India ODI side against West Indies, will once again don captain's hat for 50-over series against Zimbabwe.
DROPPING HOODA JUSTIFIED
Kohli taking back-to-back rest comes at a time when he is enduring wretched run with the bat. Youngsters like Deepak Hooda, who is in form and proved himself with an explosive performance against Ireland, was dropped during T20Is against England to make way for Kohli at number three. Hooda became the only fourth India men's cricketer to hit a century in the shortest format of the game.
However, Dhawan said it was not a big thing to drop Hooda as "senior player has done well for 10 years".
"He (Deepak Hooda) sat because a senior player had to play. Deepak is doing well but if there is a senior player, he has to wait because senior player has done so well for 10 years. It is not a big thing. Be it Deepak or someone else, it's quite normal. If the communication is good, then there is no problem. I'm sure they must have got reasoning. There is a process, every captain and coach has a different process. So, whatever their process is they will go accordingly. I'm sure they are creating a healthy environment out there," Dhawan said.
EVERY FORMAT IS UNIQUE
The India opener, who hopes to continue to play for India in coming years, added that every format of the game has its uniqueness and there is no threat to One-Day Internationals. Player workload is becoming a serious issue to debate on after star England all-rounder Ben Stokes retired from ODIs. When asked if ODI cricket is dying a slow death and has become just a longer version of T20Is, Dhawan said: "We played in England recently, the stadium was full. Everyone came and enjoyed. I really enjoy playing ODI, it's a very beautiful format and I love it. Of course, T20I is quite hot, and it is for 4 hours but that is different. Every format has its uniqueness."