There has been speculation circulating that keeping in mind the tight Indian cricketing calendar ahead, captain Virat Kohli might be rested for the limited overs series against Sri Lanka, but India’ fielding coach R Sridhar has revealed that Kohli will continue to play for his country until his body permits.
Speaking during a news conference at the end of the 2nd day’s play between India and Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata Sridhar said:
“Each member of this team is very proud to represent his country at any given opportunity. Most of the team love to play every match. Knowing Virat, he wears his pride on his sleeve. As long as his body allows he would not miss a single second of the match.”
With the gruelling away tour of South Africa in mind all-rounder, Hardik Pandya was rested from the Test series against Sri Lanka after he requested for a rest from the BCCI. Speaking of his omission, Sridhar said:
“The parameters we take into consideration is the workload. The time he spent at the crease, overs, batting…based on that, the team management takes a call on who needs to be rotated.”
The comments made by Sridhar comes to a couple of days after Kohli said in a press conference that he is not a “robot” and needs rest.
“Definitely I do need rest, why don’t I need rest? When I think of the time my body should be rested, I’ll ask for it. I am not a robot you can slice my skin and check I bleed,” Kohli had said.
Sridhar credited the hard work of the players behind the team’s growing confidence as a fielding unit.
“As far as fielding goes, the formula is very simple, the more you practice the better you get. You can see the results because it’s a controllable skill of the game unlike bowling and batting which one cannot control,” he said. “The fitter the player, the better the result on the field. You are more agile,” Sridhar concluded.
