Former Pakistan skipper Salman Butt feels India’s packed cricketing schedule is the reason behind their horrible batting display in the ongoing Headingley Test. He feels India should go for the rotation policy in order to keep the players fresh.
Virat Kohli won the toss in Leeds but it turned out to be the only positive thing for India. KL Rahul got out for a duck by James Anderson, who dismissed Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli as well in the same spell.
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India couldn’t get going and eventually get out for 78 in the first innings, which is their ninth-lowest score in Test cricket.
Salman Butt feels India should focus on the rotation policy to keep their players fresh for the rest of the series.
“Team India plays a lot of cricket and their schedule is completely crammed. When you play too much cricket, no matter how good or professional you are, as a human, sometimes the mind just doesn’t respond. When your focus level falls, your output is bound to decrease. I feel Team India must start rotating their players,” Butt said on his YouTube channel.
Indian cricketers have a packed schedule in the upcoming days. After finishing the five-match Test series against England, the UAE leg of the IPL 2021 will begin in less than a week’s time which will be followed by the T20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE and Oman.
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“You can imagine the amount of matches Team India cricketers are playing. Remember, recently, they had to send a second team to Sri Lanka because of excess engagement. There are no doubts over the quality and skills of Team India’s players.
“But I feel too much of cricket has got to them. They need to rotate two-three players and have the arsenal. Ravichandran Ashwin and Shardul Thakur can come in. They can play another batsman as well,” Butt added.
England have dominated the proceedings of the Leeds Test so far and have taken their lead over 300. Joe Root scored yet another century while Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed and Dawid Malan have notched up their respective fifties on day two.
