Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri noted that two separate teams playing in a different part of the world can become a norm in the near future due to the coronavirus-restricted world. Both sat together in the press conference before leaving for England, where Team India will face New Zealand in the World Test Championship Final before playing five Test matches against England.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will pick a second-string squad for the limited-overs series in Sri Lanka, scheduled to commence in July. Meanwhile, Virat Kohli-led Test squad will be in England preparing for the five-match series against hosts, scheduled to begin in Nottingham on August 4.

Kohli mentioned Indian players are free to take a break in order to maintain their mental health, which can be a serious concern during this hard time.

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“With the current structure and the kind of structure that you’re competing inside for a long period of time, it’s very difficult for the players to stay motivated and find the right kind of mental space,” Kohli said in the pre-departure press conference.

“You know just confined in one area and just doing the stuff, day in day out when you’re dealing with high-pressure situations. So, this (two squads) will definitely become a norm for the future.”

Team India will fly to England via a chartered plane on June 3 after finishing their 14-day isolation period. Now, they will be required to serve a soft isolation period upon reaching England. The constant movement from one bio-bubble to another, to play cricket around the world, has taken its toll on players and they have raised their concern about the same.

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“Apart from the workloads, the mental health side of things will also come into the picture big time because you don’t have an outlet at all. In today’s day and age you literally go into the ground, come back to the room, and you have no space where you can just disconnect from the game and just go out for a walk or go out for a meal or a coffee and say, Okay, Let me refresh myself,” he added.

“Let me just get away from the game a little bit so I think this is a huge factor which should not be neglected. Because as much hard work as we’ve done to create this team, you don’t want players falling out because of the mental pressures and not having the capacity or the space to express themselves.”

Kohli backed players to opt for breaks to address the mental health issues.

“So, I think there has to always be a channel over which the management has left it for players to approach them and tell them, ‘Look, I’m not feeling right in the head, and I just need a break and I just want to disconnect from the game’. So, I think that’s going to be a huge factor and I’m sure that the management understands that,” Kohli quoted.

Ravi Shastri, the head coach of India, was sitting along with Kohli during the media interaction and voiced how Covid-19 has made things different for the players to cop.

Also Read: Ravi Shastri believes WTC Final should be a best of three affair

“You are not just talking about the World Championship. But if you want to add that as well, you have to play five Test matches in this environment in six weeks. It’s no joke. I mean even the fittest will need a break. More than the physical part, it’s the mental part, like he had (Virat) mentioned, you know you can be destroyed mentally,” said Shastri.

“Being asked to do the same things day in day out and then go and perform. And it’s not easy to recover if, especially if you’ve had a bad day. It’s important that you shuffle the guys around and keep them mentally fresh.”

He further mentioned how it can be a possibility in the near future that two separate teams playing in different locations.

“Well, you never know. At the moment it’s happening because of the current situation and restriction in travel and things of that sort. But you never know. In the future, if you want to expand the game, especially in the shorter of formats, then it could be the way to go.

“You know, why not, when you have that much volume of cricketers and if you want to spread the T20 game, across the globe, then that could be the way ahead because if you’re talking of Olympics in four years or eight years’ time, you need more countries to play the game. So that could be a way forward,” Shastri added.