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Rohit Sharma ends speculation on being rested from IPL 2023 matches for Mumbai Indians, Mark Boucher reacts
The burning question of whether Rohit Sharma will be rested during IPL 2023 was answered by the Mumbai Indians captain himself.
Right after the third ODI between India and Australia ended last week, captain Rohit Sharma was asked a question that had been on everyone's mind: Will the workload of certain Indian cricketers be managed during the hectic two months of the IPL 2023? With a sharp rise in injuries to Indian players – Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer etc – this was a valid point, given India have a World Cup to play later this year, and cannot afford to not have their star players available for the ICC event.
To this, the Indian captain's response was crystal clear. Although certain directives have been laid out by the BCCI to the IPL teams, the players now belong to the franchises and they alone will take the decision to manage their workload. While Rohit's statements made complete sense, what the world wasn't ready for was to know that Rohit might fall in that category too. On Wednesday, a report carried out by The Indian Express suggested that Rohit might skip a couple of matches for Mumbai Indians in the IPL to manage his workload and that in his absence, Suryakumar Yadav will captain the team.
The burning question was addressed to Rohit during MI's first press conference of the season, with Sharma dropping a massive hint that it could be a possibility. "In terms of me resting, I think Mark (Boucher) will give you an answer to that," he said. To this, the team's coach Boucher added: "Do you want to rest?
"In regards to resting Rohit, he is the captain. Hopefully he gets into some good sort of form and I hope he doesn't want to rest. But yeah, we all adapt to different situations. If I can get the best out of him as a captain and player, that will be great. If it means he wants to rest 1 or 2 games, then I will do that. Absolutely, no problem."
A plethora of star-studded players are already missing the IPL due to injuries, and honestly, Rohit would want to be mindful of his health. The India captain has been injured a bit too many times for his own liking. Since being appointed India's full-time captain in January of 2022, Rohit has suffered injuries in his calf in 2021 and hamstring in 2022. Besides, last year, he had also picked up Covid which forced him to miss the rescheduled fifth Test against England in Edgbaston and in December, Rohit required stitched on his thumb during the ODI series against Bangladesh, ruling him out of Tests.
Now, with a second opportunity to win the World Cup awaiting, Rohit would want himself and his key players to remain in the best shape physically. There is a good seven months to go between now and the World Cup but with India playing several home and away bilateral series to go with the much-anticipated Asia Cup, workload management will be one of the most important factors surrounding the Indian team.
