Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan has shared his take on rest being given to Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in the recent past.
Notably, Kohli and Rohit took a rest from several international matches this year despite both have had struggled to show consistency with the bat.
The duo has missed the home T20I series against South Africa right after the conclusion of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. Then, following the successful limited-overs battle against England, Kohli was rested for the tours of the West Indies and Zimbabwe.
On the other hand, Rohit returned to lead India in T20Is after missing the ODI leg against West Indies. But the India captain has also been rested for the Zimbabwe series.
In the absence of Rohit, Dhawan, who led India’s ODI side against West Indies, will again don the captain’s hat. Speaking on the red-hot topic of resting Kohli as well as Rohit, Dhawan came to the defence of players taking rest, saying if a cricketer plays back-to-back he will get ‘mentally tired’.
“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,” Dhawan told India Today.
“If a player travels everywhere, he will get tired. At the end of the day, a cricketer is a human. I feel people at the top level understand and accordingly plan to keep a nice balance,” Dhawan added.
