Rohit Sharma wants India to play only format during overseas tours

Rohit Sharma is gearing up for the all important ODI series against South Africa, which begins on the 1st of February in Durban.

The Indian vice captain spoke to the press yesterday, talking about India’s preparation and brought up an interesting point about playing just one format during overseas tours, as playing all three formats tends to take a lot of toll on the bodies of cricketers.

The press peppered him with questions about scheduling and that is when Rohit talked about this new development that was being explored by the Indian team management.

“There have been talks about playing just one format and then going back home. For India, it’s never been like that. India have always played the whole series whenever we have gone abroad. And yes it tends to take a lot out of your body more than anything else.” Rohit said.

For the upcoming England tour and the ongoing South Africa tour, the Indian team will play all formats in the same tour.

“We have spoken about it that one format will be good for the players sake. But previous Indian teams have toured and done the full series and gone back. Whereas it’s different for the overseas teams, they come to India, they play just one format, they go back, get refreshed and come back,” he added.

The maverick Indian opener conceded that the final decision was the BCCI’s, but the players wanted this ‘one format’ overseas schedule.

“Again it completely depends on BCCI. But ideally, we would prefer to just play one format. Go back, refresh, get some time to yourself, think about what you need to do and come back and play another format. But we are used to it by now and it doesn’t matter.” he said.

On the flip side of it, Rohit said that a three format series helped the winning team maintain their winning momentum.

“In a way, it can be good, like you can continue the momentum. Not if you are losing the series, but if you are winning, you would like to continue as much as possible,” he added.” he concluded.