World Cup: Will IPL franchises keep India interests above commercial ones?

When it comes to managing player workload in the upcoming IPL, it is the respective franchises that call the shots.

The absence of many players owing to injuries has upset the Indian cricket team’s calculations for the upcoming ICC World Cup 2023. India is hosting the quadrennial event this year from October 5 to November 19.

Jasprit Bumrah (back injury), Shreyas Iyer (lower back), Prasidh Krishna (lumbar stress fracture), and Rishabh Pant (multiple injuries following car crash) are among those who are injured.

Is the Indian Premier League (IPL) to be blamed? The IPL franchises have spent crores of rupees to win these players.

Bumrah was acquired for Rs 12 crore by Mumbai Indians, Shreyas Iyer for Rs 12.25 crore by Kolkata Knight Riders, Prasidh Krishna for Rs 10 crore by Rajasthan Royals, Mohammad Shami for Rs 6.25 crore by Gujarat Titans, and Shardul Thakur traded from Delhi Capitals to Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 10.75 crore.

Having spent so much, it is a no-brainer that the franchises would try to get the maximum out of these players. The other side of the coin, as India captain Rohit Sharma said is, “when you play so much cricket, injuries are bound to happen.”

What happens in such a scenario is that the line dividing the Indian cricket team’s interest and the commercial interests of the franchises become very thin.

Franchises, no doubt, would do everything to get the most out of the key players, particularly those who were injured before and are prone to injuries, in order to win that glittering IPL trophy on May 28, 2023, in Ahmedabad. IPL begins on March 31.

The key players of the Indian team who have been through varying grades of injuries at different points include Ravindra Jadeja (Chennai Super Kings retained him for Rs 16 crore ahead of 2022 IPL) and Mohammad Shami (acquired for Rs 6.25 crore by Gujarat Titans in 2022), not to mention Thakur and Mohammed Siraj (bought for Rs 2.20 crore in 2018 and retained by Royal Challengers Bangalore).

Jadeja, Siraj and Shami featured in the home series against Australia, both in Tests and ODIs, playing key roles in the team’s results while Thakur’s all-round options are crucial in the white-ball format.

Workload management by IPL franchises

When it comes to managing player workload in the upcoming IPL, it is the respective franchises that call the shots.

“It is all up to the franchises now. The franchises own them,” said Indian captain Rohit Sharma recently.

“It (injuries) is a concern if players are not available. We are missing players who are regular in the playing 11. Honestly, everyone (medical team) is trying their best to get everyone (players) on the park. We have been focusing a lot on managing the players, which is why you see we rest certain players at certain points of time,” he said.

Sharma, who is also the captain of Mumbai Indians, added: “I am no specialist (to say) why recurring injuries are happening. The medical team is definitely looking into all these. Come the World Cup, we have the best 15 ready. When you play so much cricket, injuries are bound to happen. We are trying to control what is in our hands. Players are frustrated, they don’t want to miss out. I can vouch for it that the people working behind the scenes are working with all these players.”

The Shreyas Iyer example

How bad India missed one of its key ODI players, Shreyas Iyer, was seen in the end result of the series against Australia. One of the better players of spin bowling, Iyer would have been an ideal batsman to tackle leg-spinner Adam Zampa and left-arm spinner Ashton Agar on the Chepauk pitch in Chennai. The two spinners kept the Indian batsmen, including Virat Kohli, quiet, and the required run rate, pursuing a target of 270, kept on rising.

Iyer’s absence was glaringly felt when his replacement at No. 4, Suryakumar Yadav, was dismissed for a golden duck in each of the three ODIs. Zampa picked up four wickets and Agar, two, exposing once again the lack of skills by the Indian batsmen against spin bowling. Though the Chennai pitch assisted spin, it was not something that the Indians had to surrender meekly to the Australian slow bowlers.

It was here that Iyer was missed, after suffering a lower back injury in the fourth Test in Ahmedabad against Australia. He has batted a majority of his ODI innings at No. 4, where he averages 47.35 and strikes at close to 95 runs for every 100 deliveries.

It came as a surprise when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) released a media statement that Iyer suffered a lower back injury on a day when the Indian batsmen were batting the whole day and he was awaiting his turn.

Sharma said: “Shreyas was sitting the whole day, he went to take a knock and the injury occurred. There is nothing you can do about it. Only thing we can do is to manage the players.”

Team management directive to IPL franchises

Sharma indicated that the team management has given directives to IPL franchises to manage the workload of the India internationals so that they don’t become unavailable when the World Cup squad is announced.

The Mumbai Indians skipper said: “We have given some kind of indication to the teams. But, it is up to the franchises. More importantly, it is up to the players. They (players) are all adults. They have to look after their body. If they feel that it's getting a little too much, they can always talk about it and have a break in one or two games. But, I doubt whether it will happen.”

Another point to be kept in mind is that there is no point in rushing players into action. A recent example is Bumrah being named in the ODI squad against Sri Lanka earlier in January even before he was tested in a domestic match. He was ruled out before the series began as he needed “more time to build bowling resilience”.

One hopes the IPL franchises think about the fortunes of the Indian team and not squeeze the maximum out of the players who are in the forefront to play in the World Cup, particularly the bowlers.