Ravi Shastri: Even the fittest will need a break

India coach Ravi Shastri warned of the dangers of mental fatigue on long tours like England

Till now, the workload management has been paramount for the Indian team management. However, with Coronavirus forcing teams to operate in a bio-secure bubble, mental well-being is the biggest concern. 

The Indian team will be on the road, starting with the World Test Championship from June 18 to 22 in England, followed by a full bilateral series (five Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is) against England from August 4 to September 14. It will be followed by resumption of the suspended Indian Premier League (IPL) in UAE and then the T20 World Cup. India coach Ravi Shastri warned of the dangers of mental fatigue on long tours like England. “When you have to play five Test matches in this environment in six weeks, it’s no joke. Even the fittest will need a break. More than physical, it’s the mental part. You can be destroyed mentally being asked to do the same things day in and day out and then go out and perform. It’s important you shuffle the guys around and keep them mentally fresh,” Shastri said on Wednesday ahead of the team’s departure. 

Mental well-being is going to become “a norm”, according to India skipper Virat Kohli.

Reiterating the importance of keeping players fresh, Kohli said: “With the kind of structure we are competing in, to be very honest for a long period of time it’s very difficult for the players to stay motivated and find the right kind of mental space, just confined to one area and just doing the stuff day in and day out and dealing with high pressure situations.

“So, this will definitely become a norm in the future, where apart from the workload, I think the mental health side of things will also come into the picture big time, because you don’t have an outlet at all in today’s day and age, where you are literally going to the ground, coming back to the room. You have no space where you can just disconnect from the game and say let me just refresh myself. This is a huge factor which should not be neglected because as much hard work as we’ve done to create this team, you don’t want players falling out because of mental pressures,” he added.

Kohli said the players have an open channel, which the team management has created to approach them if they felt like taking a break.

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