Shikhar Dhawan defends Virat Kohli for taking rest from international cricket

Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan has come out in defence of players taking rest from international matches, saying if a cricketer plays back-to-back matches, he will get ‘mentally tired’. With senior players taking a rest from several series, many former cricketers and fans have criticised them for running away from national duties continuously.

"A player has to get fresh to give peak performance. If a player plays back-to-back, he will get mentally tired. It is important to give rest mentally. If you see there is rotation in international cricket so that players get rest. If a player travels everywhere, he will get tired. At the end of the day, a cricketer is a human. I feel people at top level understand and accordingly plan to keep a nice balance," Dhawan was quoted as saying by India today.

The Indian cricket board is giving special attention to the workload of the players who play all three formats for the country. Given that the 20-20 world cup in Australia is just 71 days away, the board is aiming to keep the players fresh going into the mega event. Both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were rested from the home T20I series against South Africa just after the conclusion of the 2022 Indian T20 League. After featuring in the limited-overs series against England, Kohli was once again rested for the tours of West Indies and Zimbabwe.

Rohit, on the other hand, returned to lead India in T20Is after missing the ODI leg against West Indies. The India captain has also been rested for the Zimbabwe series. Shikhar Dhawan, who led India in the ODIs against West Indies, will be seen once again seen leading the side in the 50-over series against Zimbabwe.

Kohli has been receiving immense criticism from many former cricketers to miss out on matches despite being out of form. Young players like Deepak Hooda have been made to sit out to make way for the star batter in the team. Hooda has been in sublime form lately, he scored a brilliant hundred against Ireland in the second T20I on June 28.  He became only the fourth Indian to achieve the feat.

"He (Deepak Hooda) sat because a senior player had to play. Deepak is doing well but if there is a senior player, he has to wait because senior player has done so well for 10 years. It is not a big thing. Be it Deepak or someone else, it's quite normal. If the communication is good, then there is no problem. I'm sure they must have got reasoning. There is a process, every captain and coach has a different process. So, whatever their process is they will go accordingly. I'm sure they are creating a healthy environment out there," Dhawan said.