December is when he wants a few days off fr0m work. The Board of Control for Cricket in India has denied receiving a leave application from Team India skipper Virat Kohli but it is clear that before the team leaves for South Africa, he will take a few days off. While he did not confirm the dates while speaking ahead of the first Test against Sri Lanka in Kolkata, Kohli admitted he needs rest.
"Definitely, I do need a rest," Kohli said. "Why not? When I think of the time when my body needs to be rested, I'll ask for it. I am not a robot, you can slice my skin and check, I bleed," was his impassioned response when asked about his request to the Board.
Kohli, reportedly, has conveyed to the BCCI that he would be unavailable for the third Test against Sri Lanka starting December 2. The match will be played in Delhi, his hometown. This had led to speculations of his impending marriage with actor Anushka Sharma. However, Kohli has neither revealed the dates nor the reason for the leave.
Meanwhile, speaking about the first Test against the visitors, Kohli felt it was a great idea to have a Test series before going to South Africa, which would undoubtedly be a sterner Test for the number one ranked Test team in the world. He denied that hosts would be low on intensity given the opposition. “The intensity is same. It is another series for us. We play so much cricket now, it is all about good preparation, keeping energy levels up and making sure we have quality practice and not necessarily go for quantity. We have to maintain the balance and I think we have done really well so far.”
When asked whether it was tough to not think of what lies ahead in South Africa and stay focused on the present series, Kohli said the team was looking to remain consistent with its winning ways and that is the main driving force. “I feel every match we play is important. Every series is huge. It is not as if we lose the series and you guys are going to say nothing to us. Everything is important when you play for the country. We don't like to differentiate. We simply want to do well as a team, whatever condition we play in. Winning is the most important thing.”
He had to measure is words carefully when asked whether playing yet another series against Sri Lanka was a bit of an overdose especially in times where Test cricket's survival is being debated. Kohli said the feedback from the fans would help decide in the long run. “This needs analysis. It has to be done over a period of time by asking the fans who watch the game. For us, there's no room for complacency. We have to maintain a balance of how to engage fans and keep players fresh at the same time and keep cricket exciting and competitive throughout the year. That point will be discussed in future definitely.”
The Indian captain contended that the idea of resting players and rotating them had been misinterpreted. The spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have been rested from all short format cricket played after the Australia series earlier this year. Seamers Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav, too, were rested while all rounder Hardik Pandya has been rested for the current series.
"Eleven players play the game, but not everyone would have batted 45 overs in the ODI game, or bowled 35 overs in a Test match," he said. "The guys who are doing that regularly are the ones that need to be assessed, because the body takes that much to recover and it needs rest as well.
"People only look at, 'oh everyone has played 40 games.' They don't look at time spent on the crease, the number of runs that have been run between the wickets, the number of overs they have been bowling in difficult conditions: what are the conditions, what were the temperatures like, have the bodies recovered or not?
He gave the example of Team India's batting mainstay in Tests—Cheteshwar Pujara. “People who have major workload, for example [Cheteshwar] Pujara during a Test season, he'll have maximum workload because he'll spend so much time on the crease. His game is built that way.
“You cannot compare that to, say, a counterattacking player, because the workload would have been different. And purely because of the fact that we've built such a strong core team now of 20-25 players, you don't want important players breaking down at important times for the team.
"That is where the balance needs to be maintained going forward, because if you have too much cricket going on, especially guys playing all three formats, it is humanly impossible to maintain same intensity and same level of performance as you do in the earlier phase of the season. I think those details are very important when you consider workload management," Kohli said.
