Reports: Rahul Dravid keen to assess workload of players with Jay Shah

The Rahul Dravid era is set to get underway in Indian cricket and it would be interesting to see how the legendary cricketer performs as a head coach. He took over the baton from Ravi Shastri, whose tenure ended following India’s ouster in the T20 World Cup 2021. Now, Dravid will have the onus to groom the Men in Blue and take them to success.

If reports are to be believed, Dravid’s primary focus is to deal with players’ fatigue issues. Ever since the COVID-19 virus came into the picture, prominent leagues and tournaments have been taking place inside bio-secure bubbles where players have to follow some strict norms. With players not allowed to step outside a certain area, many players have felt mental and physical fatigue and they expressed the same.

Hence, Dravid is keen to fix the fatigue concern as soon as possible. According to a report in Indian Express, the former Indian captain had brought the issue in front of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) when he appeared for the head coach’s job. He and BCCI secretary Jay Shah are now set to plan on players’ rotation depending upon their workload.

BCCI and Rahul Dravid are aware of the fatigue issue: Official

As of now, the decision of picking, dropping, or resting players has been majorly in the hand of selectors. However, Dravid is now set to decide the name of resting players before the selectors announce their 15-man squad. Notably, most of the players in India’s T20 World Cup squad have been playing regular cricket. Many prominent players even looked out of touch.

In order to avoid another scenario like this, the BCCI would take this major decision. “The BCCI will decide on which player needs to be rested depending on how much cricket is being played. We are aware of the fatigue issue. The player who has been rested will get his place back in the team even if the replacement does well,” a BCCI official was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.

Dravid’s first assignment as India’s full-time head coach will be India’s home series against New Zealand. Many first-choice players like Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, and Virat Kohli have been rested for the three-match series and it would be interesting to see how the rotation is done in the upcoming assignments.