'That's a new term that's come up' - Ishant Sharma takes subtle dig at Indian management over frequent breaks for players

Ishant Sharma (Source: Twitter)

Although the Indian Cricket Team began their tour of Bangladesh with a thumping 188-run win in the first Test at Chattogram, they have been dealt with a few injury concerns going into the second Test. To counter this, the Indian Cricket Board have tried a few things and have also resorted to workload management to stop the spike in injuries.

Even in the tour of Bangladesh till now, India have had injury concerns. Mohammed Shami did not play in the Bangladesh ODIs due to a shoulder injury. Kuldeep Sen was unfit after playing his debut game in the ODI series and Deepak Chahar was down with a hamstring injury which was his third casualty of the year. One man who said the whole scene around workload management was overrated was Ishant Sharma.

Most bowlers break down in Ranji games because they are not prepared - Ishant Sharma

"The only thing I would say right now is: 'Do not think too much about the workload'. That's a new term that's come up in recent times, especially for fast bowlers. I never saw something like that during my international stint. When I started playing, my coach was an old-fashioned coach who would give me a ball in hand at 1 o'clock in the afternoon and we would go on till the sunset. That's how I could bowl long spells when I made my debut in Ranji Trophy and later on for India. If you want to improve, the only thing you can do is to keep bowling," Ishant said in an interview for Sportstar.

"I think if you have made your name through domestic cricket, you should not be selective about playing games thereafter. If you want to play domestic cricket, nobody can stop you. Only when you have played a sizable amount of cricket for the country can you be given a break at times. Most pacers break down during Ranji Trophy games because they don't go through the ideal preparation," Ishant added

He went on to say that too much emphasis is given to workload management and that the notion behind the exercise needs to be considered. He further said that the way a bowler can remain injury free is by bowling for long periods. He said that a break should be given if a cricketer has played a huge amount of cricket, and that if someone wants to bowl long spells in domestic cricket that cannot happen with frequent breaks.