In a bid to provide relief to the senior Team India players from the continous fatigue due to the bubble life, KL Rahul could reportedly lead India in the upcoming home T20I series against New Zeland, scheduled to begin just after the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
Notably, several Indian players have been in bubble since a long time as after the World Test Championship (WTC) in June against New Zealand, they were in England for the five-match series and later travelled to the UAE to participate in the remainder of the 14th edition of the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL).
They players are even now in bubble due to the ongoing T20 World Cup.
Recently, after suffering their second consecutive defeat in the ongoing ICC T20 Men’s World Cup, Team India pacer Jasprit Bumrah had said that India is struggling from ‘bubble fatigue’ amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the players are feeling the effects of being on the road for six months.
Commenting on it, Bumrah told reporters: “Absolutely, sometimes you need a break. You miss your family. You’ve been on the road for six months. So all of that sometimes play on the back of your mind. But when you are on the field, you don’t think of all those things…obviously staying in a bubble and staying away from your family for such a long period of time does play a role.”
“The BCCI also tried their best to make us feel comfortable … It’s a difficult time. There’s a pandemic going on, so we try to adapt but sometimes bubble fatigue, mental fatigue also creeps in,” he added.
Bumrah further expressed: “We tried to give us some cushion. We wanted to get extra runs that could give us an advantage in the second innings.”
Significantly, Team India were one of the pre-tournament favourites to lift the coveted trophy but now face an uphill task to make it to the semi-finals of the showpiece event.
Several top Indian cricketers like skipper Virat Kohli, his deputy Rohit Sharma, Bumrah and Mohammad Shami have all been in bio-bubbles since the start of World Test Championship (WTC) in Southampton earlier in June this year and would be handed much-needed rest.
The board is also thinking to rest these players and hand them a break so that they could rejuvenate themselves before the South Africa tour starting December end.
Uncapped players like Ruturaj Gaikwad, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan and Venkatesh Iyer, who all have impressed in the 14th season of the cash-rich league, are in contention for the short series.
Team India will play three T20Is matches on November 17, 19 and 21 at Jaipur, Ranchi and Kolkata respectively againstNew Zealand before taking the Kiwis in a two-Test series, starting November 25 in Kanpur and December 3 in Mumbai respectively.
After the home series against the Kiwis, the Indian team will tour South Africa for three Tests, as many One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and four T20Is.