India's humiliating loss to New Zealand in the opening match of the triseries has set off a chain of events with the team management apparently asking the Board of Control for Cricket in India to reduce the burden on the players and to decongest the schedule.
The team management, comprising captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, is apparently concerned at the fitness levels and workload on unidentified seven core members of the squad who need to be carefully nurtured.
This concern has been raised considering India's busy schedule ahead, including the World Cup in the subcontinent in February-March.
In a letter to BCCI secretary N Srinivasan, the team has apparently asked the board to have a look at the effect the schedule is having on the top players.
It is clear that the core players are either resting, injured or are playing with some niggle or the other.
One of the suggestions put forward is that the three-Test series against New Zealand in November be reduced to two matches, so that the team can prepare for the following tour to South Africa. Apparently, the players want to reach South Africa a week earlier to acclimatise.
Rotation of players is a concept that has not been accepted in Indian cricket. During the Nagpur Test against South Africa in February, Dhoni had categorically said that rotation in India was not possible. But it seems, given the request of the players, the BCCI might give the policy a second look.
The team management's request came on a day when it was learnt that the BCCI had apparently shot down a planned trip of team to India during the three- day break in the tri-series in Dambulla. The team wanted to return home for a short break after their opening match on Tuesday as their next match was scheduled only on August 16. Bur the Board apparently scuttled the trip home after the Tuesday's humiliating 200-run defeat at the hands of New Zealand.
MUNAF TO JOIN TEAM
Paceman Munaf Patel will join the struggling Indian team in Sri Lanka to bolster its pace attack for the ongoing tri-series.
"Munaf Patel is joining the Indian team in Sri Lanka, as an additional member of the squad.
He will reach Dambulla tomorrow," said Srinivasan in a statement.
The Baroda fast bowler was also a member of the Test squad during the recent series that was drawn 1-1, but did not get to play in a match.
The Indian fast bowlers performed poorly in the series opener against New Zealand and that might have prompted the selectors to send Patel. The 27- year- old speedster played the last of his 43 ODIs in November last year, against Australia at Guwahati.
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