You want your best players to play all games, but that's not possible: Rohit

India’s Test skipper Rohit Sharma spoke about the importance of workload management and said it’s impossible to play his best players in every single game. 

India are scheduled to play two Tests against Bangladesh, starting on September 19 in Chennai, before playing three Tests against New Zealand at home. There will also be a three-match T20I series against Bangladesh and four T20Is in South Africa before India travel to Australia for the blockbuster five-match Test series later this year. 

India have announced the squad only for the opening Test against Bangladesh and some of the players will likely be rested for the second game in Kanpur. The players will be rotated during the New Zealand series as well, while some of the major names could miss the South Africa tour to focus on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. All these 10 Tests will be played in the space of four months.

"We have laid out some plans on how we are going to manage these bowlers. But again, it all depends on the workload that has been carried by them in these games. So yeah, we will monitor that. I think we have done that pretty well,” said Rohit on September 17 (Tuesday). 

“Even when we played against England (at home, earlier this year), we managed to get Jasprit Bumrah one Test match off. We managed to give Mohammed Siraj one Test match off.

"So it all depends on how the body feels at that particular time, what the (strength and conditioning) is, and what the physios feel about them, when is the right time to give them a break from the game, and then take the call.

"You want your best players to play all the games, but that's not possible because there is so much cricket that happens. It is not only Test cricket, there is T20 cricket happening in the middle of the Test series as well. So you (have) got to understand everything, and then see what is best for the team and then manage your bowlers around it."

Also read - Chennai Test: Rahul or Sarfaraz? Rohit answers the big question

Rohit hasn’t played any red-ball cricket for more than six months, while Virat Kohli last played a Test in the first week of this year. "We assembled here on the 12th, and we've had a good time spending hours on the field (and) getting everything together. So yeah, it is tough. But see, now people are so experienced, they manage themselves pretty well. And guys who have not played a lot of Test cricket obviously went on to play the Duleep Trophy, which was good.

"So in terms of preparation, and in terms of readiness, I feel we are quite ready for this game and what lies ahead of us. So it was a good little prep that we had before this Test match. It was important to utilise that time, and I thought we utilised this little camp that we had in Chennai pretty well."

If you’ve not downloaded the Cricket.com app yet, you’re missing out on our content — big time. Download the App here.