The WTC final will be played from June 7 at the Oval, right after the IPL final to be held on May 28.
With IPL returning to its original home and away pattern for the first time since the post-COVID-19 outbreak, there will be a lot of travel involved and among all the current India Test regulars, only Cheteshwar Pujara is not part of IPL.
“It’s pretty critical for us. We’re going to stay in constant contact with all the players who are going to play this final and monitor their workload and see what happens with them,” Sharma replied to a question from PTI during the interview. a press conference after India won the series against Australia 2-1 in Ahmedabad.
“Around May 21 there will be six teams who may be excluded from the IPL qualifiers and so whatever players are available we will try to find the time to get them to the UK as soon as possible and to get some time and we will monitor as much as possible,” the skipper outlined his plans for the Grand Final.
The three frontrunners mohamed siraj (RCB), mohamed chami (Gujarat Titans), Umesh Yadav (KKR) are expected to be first-team regulars for their respective franchises and playing at least 12 out of 14 group league games and monitoring their workload will be important.
“In fact, we send (red) Duke Balls to all the fast bowlers and if they have time to play with that, but again it all depends on the individuals,” Rohit said.
In England, the Tests are played with Duke balls unlike OS tests in India and the Kookaburra in Australia.
How long a Shami, Umesh or Siraj can find out through their travels, matches and busy schedule is there to be seen.
But England is not a foreign place for most of the Test squad as they have all played several rounds there and some of them have also played county cricket.
“The guys who will be in the finals are not the ones who haven’t played in the UK. Maybe there could be one or two guys here and there and we’ve all played in that part of the world. I don’t think this will be a huge problem.
“Listen, I believe the preparations will be key for us, come the finals.”
“The final at the Oval will be a different ball game”
While both teams have played a lot of cricket in England, the neutral venue will make it a completely different proposition for both sides.
“Speaking of playing against them (Australia) in the final, it will be a different ballgame with a neutral venue for both teams.”
“Both teams have played a lot of cricket in this part of the world and I won’t say it’s going to be foreign conditions for either team but yes compared to what it’s like to play in India in India or in Australia in Australia it’s not going to be like this, it would be slightly different to what I’m sure both teams are going to be preparing for,” the captain said.
(With PTI entries)
