The ongoing ODI series between India and Australia will be concluding in Delhi with the last ODI scheduled to be played at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium on March 13, which also end the final assignment for the hosts ahead of ICC World Cup 2019. After this, the Indian players will get engaged in playing the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019. Which will be followed by the ICC World Cup will begin on 30th May in England.

The 2019 edition of the IPL will commence on March 23 as the BCCI has released the schedule for the first two weeks of the tournament only. However, there are some concerns for the BCCI during the tournament and the crucial one will be the fitness and workload management of its international players during the IPL.

Almost all the franchises include Indian players who will travel to England and Wales for the 2019 ICC World Cup. Big names like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni and fast bowlers like Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are scheduled to play crucial roles for their respective teams in the T20 league.

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The BCCI has been working with the support staff and the management of IPL franchises in order to manage the workload of World Cup-bound players. However, it remains to be seen how the franchises utilize their players in the tournament and how they manage their workload.

2011 ICC World Cup winner Harbhajan Singh feels that Virat Kohli’s men will go into the ICC mega event with high confidence given their performance over the last few years. Talking to Sportstar, he said, “World Cup is still very far. We will have to wait and watch what happens. But this is a kind of a team which can lift any major championship. World Cup or any big tournament, – they can definitely win. They have the team (for it).”

However, the off-spinner also feels that the players need to be cautious about their fitness throughout the IPL and be ready for the upcoming World Cup. He said since IPL will feature many games in a short span of time, the fitness of the players will be tested and injuries might happen, which could hamper India’s chances in the World Cup. Bhajji mentioned Kohli, Bumrah and Rohit as some of the key players who needed to keep themselves fit and fresh.

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Harbhajan elaborated, “You don’t want your key players to get injured someone like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah you don’t want them to miss the World Cup because of injuries or niggles. You want them to be on their best of form and (play) best of cricket. Looking at his (Virat’s) form, from the last four-to-five years, he has hit that purple patch and he is definitely one of those toughest batsmen that you will come across as a bowler. Every batsman has a weak point where to bowl at and, at the moment, we don’t see that with Virat Kohli.”