Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, who after India’s defeat to England had said that some of the players will be retiring, has now come down heavily at the same set of players, this time questioning the hypocrisy of several players regarding IPL. The 73-year-old said why the workload becomes an issue while playing for India even as the same players continue to take part in IPL for months.
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India were knocked out of the T20 World Cup after they were beaten by ten wickets by England in the semi-final at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday. The shear one-sided chase by England had set the tongues of several former cricketers wagging. Moreover, slow batting from India had also raised several questions.
While Rohit Sharma led side scored just 38 in the first powerplay, England had raced away to 63. Some of the tactics were also clearly baffling, a good instance could be where India skipper said that he wanted to bat first.
Coming back to former India captain, Gavaskar tore into IPL superstars, saying players travel even more in the franchise tournament often criss-crossing the country.
“Changes will be there. If you can’t win in the World Cup, changes will happen. Hamne vo dekha hai ki jo New Zealand ke liye team jaa rahi hai, usme changes hue hain. Ye jo ‘workload-workload’ ki baatein hai, Kirti aur Madan ne sahi kaha ki workload kyun hota hai kyun hota hai to play only for India? (When you can’t win the World Cup, there will be changes. The team for New Zealand has changes. But every time we talk about this ‘workload’, why does it only happen when they play for India?),” Gavaskar said on Aaj Tak.
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“Aap IPL khelte hain, poora season khelte hain, vahan aap traveling karte hain… sirf pichla IPL 4 centers me hua tha, baaki sab jagah aap idhar-udhar daudte rehte hain. Vahan par aapko thakaan nahi hoti? Vahan workload nahi hota? Sirf jab Bharat ke liye khelna hota hai, vo bhi tab jab aap non-glamorous countries me jaate hain, tab aapka workload banta hai? Ye baat galat hai. (You play in whole season of IPL, travel from one place to other. You don’t get tired there? Is there no workload? Only when you play for India, especially when you have to tour a non-glamorous country, you remember workload? This is wrong),” Gavaskar further said.
India will be touring New Zealand with a revamped squad where Hardik Pandya has been named the captain. Moreover, there will be a new coaching staff under VVS Laxman on the Kiwi tour which will see three T20I as well as same number of ODI games.
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