Men in Blue will play the 3 ODI matches against Aussies starting on March 17 at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Asian Giants will face the same opponent in the World Test Championship (WTC) Final in June 2023. But before WTC Final, the biggest stage of franchise cricket will be set with the opening match of IPL 2023, on March 31.
Indian skipper, Rohit Sharma after winning the four-Test match series by 2-1 against the ‘Baggy Greens’ stated in the post-match conference that, they will try to send some players to the UK, after the conclusion of the league stage in IPL 16.
Sharma revealed that the workload of players will be monitored in the IPL-
“I don’t think it will be a huge problem but yeah, look I believe in preparation and preparations will be key for us come the finals.
“Around 21st May, there will be six teams who will possibly be out of IPL playoffs contention and so whichever players are available, we will try and find time to get them to the UK early as possible and get some time and we will monitor as much as possible,” said the Indian skipper.
The league stage of IPL 2023, which starts from the 31st Match, however, ends on May 21, 16 days before the start of the marquee final in England.
Big congrats to the boys for winning #BorderGavaskarTrophy & qualifying for #WTCFinal ! Great team effort! Mature captaincy by hitman @ImRo45 & sensible, gritty innings yet again by King kohli @imVkohli ? Crucial roles by @imjadeja @ashwinravi99 @akshar2026 ! Let’s do this boys! https://t.co/SsjZj5bxNc
— Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) March 14, 2023
Cheteshwar Pujara is the only possible squad member who will travel to the UK for the WTC Final, with out playing IPL the rest of India’s potential squad to play in that final will be involved in the IPL starting March 31. Player workloads will assume far greater significance in the context of the Indian team’s recent injury situation with the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant, especially fast bowlers.
“Look, I think it’s quite critical for us, we’re going to keep in constant touch with all players who are going to play that final and monitor their workload and see what’s happening with them.
“In fact we are sending some Dukes Balls to all fast bowlers and see if they get some time to bowl with that, but again it all depends on individuals, guys who will be part of finals are not the guys who have not played in UK and may be one or two guys here and there and rest all of us have played in that part of the world,” he further added.
Team India lost the WTC Final in 2021 after getting beaten by New Zealand by 8 wickets. It was the inaugural edition and was played at Southampton. Virat Kohli was leading the Indian squad at that time.