Mumbai Indians head coach Mark Boucher feels the incessant talk of workload management is overrated in T20 cricket as the other two formats are more punishing on the body.
Speaking to the media ahead of the IPL beginning on Friday, Boucher said he doesn’t feel the need to manage workload in the shortest format.
“It is amazing we are even talking about workload in T20 cricket. There is a lot of talk about workload but if you look at our schedule, we have got quite a bit of rest in between. Sometimes media and people look too much into workload in T20 cricket.
“Test cricket and one-day cricket are tough on the body, T20 cricket is short. We should not be talking about workload in T20 cricket with all due respect,” said the former South African wicketkeeper-batter.
Faith in SKY
Boucher also banks on Suryakumar Yadav to get back amongst the runs in the IPL following a dreadful run in the recent ODI series against Australia.
The stylish right-hander was out on the first ball in each of the three innings against Australia.
“Surya is fine. You can’t judge a guy’s form based on how he is playing the first ball. I checked on him about how he is feeling, and he said, ‘coach I am hitting the ball very well’. I said, ‘cool’,” Boucher said.
“You can’t say that a guy is out of form if a guy does not get past the first ball. Hopefully, when he faces the first ball in the IPL, the whole crowd will cheer and he will be back to business.
“He’s a great player and probably the best T20 playerin the world for the moment,” he added.
Boucher said the absence of Jasprit Bumrah provides an opportunity for other bowlers to step up.
“The way the Mumbai Indians have selected their squads over the last few years is that you select your playing XI, you select your back-up XI and then you invest in a couple of youngsters for the future. It’s now time for those youngsters to show up and basically get the opportunity.
“We got experience in the spinners in Piyush (Chawla), we have got a couple of youngsters in Kumar (Kartikeya) and (Hrithik) Shokeen as well. It’s going to be interesting to see how they sort of operate this season,” he said.
