Restricted Ranji season for ODI specialists: The Indian team management doesn’t want the ODI specialists to play the full Ranji season.
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In a bid to manage the workload of ODI specialists, the Indian team management has laid down specific guidelines regarding their participation in the ongoing season of the Ranji Trophy.
With India set to play a four-match Test series against Australia, the ODI specialists have flown back home and are highly likely to feature for their respective state sides in the Ranji Trophy. The decision has been taken in an attempt to make sure that the players do not fall prey to victims. With the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 six months away, watching the players getting injured would be the last thing which any team would want to see.
Players like Shikhar Dhawan, Kedar Jadhav and Yuzvendra Chahal, who are all in likeliness of making the World Cup squad, will not be playing every match for their state teams in this Ranji season.
“Indian team’s trainer Shankar Basu and physio Patrick Farhart have put the ODI specialists on a programme to monitor their workload. It’s not that they have been completely barred from playing Ranji but they will need clearances from the team management,” a source close to the team management was quoted as saying to Times of India.
“Given the World Cup is just seven months away, the team management doesn’t want to disturb the core of the team. Jadhav has a history of breaking down frequently. So, they need to be cautious with him,” the source said.
While Chahal is expected to have asked for personal leaves, Dhawan has stayed back in Australia for his family lives over there.
“He has his family in Melbourne and the ODI squad will assemble back in Australia in the first week of January for the ODI series. Like Ambati Rayudu, who has given up playing first-class cricket to focus on his World Cup prospects, Dhawan is also now focused on performing well in the shorter formats. How he prepares is up to him. He may turn up for Delhi if he feels he needs match practice,” the source added.
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