'Core has to play every single game': Sunil Gavaskar slams frequent breaks taken by senior Indian players

Sunil Gavaskar has come down heavily on the culture of taking frequent breaks from international duty, a trend that has become a fairly common occurrence in Indian cricket in recent years.

A number of first-team players have opted to get their workloads managed in recent months with the cricketing calendars more cramped than ever, resulting in the BCCI selectors opting to rest senior players for certain tournaments from time to time.

The likes of skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul had been rested for India’s tour of New Zealand that took place right after the T20 World Cup, with Hardik Pandya and Shikhar Dhawan taking over captaincy duties for the T20Is and ODIs respectively.

Batting icon Gavaskar, however called for the core of the Indian team to get as much game time as possible in the build-up to the ODI World Cup that India will host in the months of October and November next year.

“I hope there is not too much chopping and changing. I also hope there is not too much of giving a break now. Then the combination takes a long time to gel when you come into the World Cup. And then in World Cup, there is no matches where you can afford to lose.

“So it is very important that the core plays all matches. Yes there will be an odd player coming in somewhere when you need an extra bowler or a batter. But the core has to play every single one-day game. No rest. You are playing for India. No rest. You want to win the World Cup. And for that, you need that combination to be absolutely gelling every single game,” Gavaskar was quoted as saying.

Following the New Zealand tour, which featured a number of reserve players and witnessed pacer Umran Malik make his ODI debut, the Indian team has travelled to Bangladesh where they are currently playing the first of three one-day internationals and will later face the Bangla Tigers in two Tests.

While senior players Rohit, Kohli and Rahul are back in the side, with vice-captain Rahul donning the wicketkeeping gloves, the Men in Blue are without Mohammed Shami, who was ruled out in the build-up to the first ODI with a shoulder injury.

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