The veteran Indian opener, Shikhar Dhawan has jumped to the defense of players taking rest from international cricket, saying if a cricketer plays back-to-back, he will get “mentally tired”. Big names like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma took a rest from several international matches this year. In an exclusive interaction with indiatoday.in, Dhawan came up with a reason behind that and said that there is rotation in international cricket so that players get rest.
During the sidelines of an event, Shikhar Dhawan said, “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.”
Both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma missed the home T20I series against South Africa just after the IPL 2022. After the successful limited-overs series against England, Kohli has opted to rest for the tours of the West Indies and Zimbabwe. Rohit has also been rested for the Zimbabwe series where Shikhar Dhawan be leading the men in blue.
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Kohli taking back-to-back rest comes at a time when he is enduring a wretched run with the bat. However, Dhawan said it was not a big thing to drop Deepak Hooda as a “senior player has done well for 10 years”.
Elaborating the same, Shikhar Dhawan said, “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 a 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.”
He further explained, “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.”
Shikhar Dhawan is hoping to continue to play for India in the coming years, added that every format of the game has its uniqueness and there is no threat to One-Day Internationals.
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When asked if ODI cricket is dying a slow death, Shikhar 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.”
