India pacer Shardul Thakur on Sunday backed players taking occasional "breaks" from the sport, asserting that it is a massive challenge for modern-day cricketers to maintain their fitness round the year.
Workload management has been a hotly debated topic of late in Indian cricket circles after lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah played only three Tests in the five-match Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against England recently.
"I appreciate these questions. No one actually comes and asks us how our body feels after playing for so many months. A lot of times we are taken for granted and the management is not to the highest level.
"But yes, I have been managing my body with physios, with SNCs (strength and conditioning coaches), doing constant work as it's about playing cricket," Thakur said after the Duleep Trophy semifinal where he led West Zone against Central Zone.
Thakur said a cooling off period is essential for players of this era where they go through hectic schedules.
"I'm not saying that you keep pulling yourself out from playing the games. But frequent breaks here and there are good for the body. It's going to be a constant challenge in modern day cricket for an athlete to keep up with fitness for all year long. It's tough, it's not easy. It's just about staying in the race, I would say," said Thakur.
However, the 33-year-old was clear in his thoughts that players should not shy away from giving their 100 percent once they enter the game.
"See, once you enter the game, you can't be talking about workload management because the game situation also takes over. So when you go into the game, you're expected to give your best. Whatever you have in your tank, you have to give it all.
"I believe you shouldn't be shying away from coming in and hitting the deck hard in the game. Yes, when you're resting back home or you have those breaks in between the game, that's where you try to manage your bodies and try to manage your load," he noted.
The Mumbai cricketer said the players needed to remain aware of the nature of workload management.
"It depends ... .how many overs to bowl in the nets? If you're not having too much load in the game, then of course, you can push yourself in the nets.
"But if you're having a big amount of load in the game, then you can take it a little bit easy in the nets," he added.
Incredible outing by a young side in England ============================ Thakur, who played two Tests against England in the recent series, said a set of young and inexperienced players punched well above their weight to draw the rubber 2-2.
"There were quite a few chances where if we pushed ourselves, we could have literally won the series. I'm not joking because the kind of cricket that we played was good, but I would say the side was fairly inexperienced.
"A lot of experienced guys had moved on. For a young side to put up that kind of a performance, it was incredible, I would say," he said.
Thakur said India's intensely fought series was unique because all matches went into the last session of the fifth day.
"Every pitch was different on different venues. It was one of the unique series where the cricket was played over five days in all the Test matches. None of the Tests got over in four days or four and a half days.
"It really went to the last session on the fifth day. As a cricketer, you also got to be ready that in a five Test match series, it could happen that you're playing on all five days and there's 25 days of cricket, which is rare. The competition was really neck to neck," he said.
'Sporting wicket needed' =============== The seasoned pacer was not precisely happy with the surface on offer for the Duleep Trophy semifinal at the BCCI Centre of Excellence, where spinners held the sway, taking 20 wickets out of the total 28 wickets across three innings.
"There was not much for the fast bowlers. And it's always going to be a sort of complaint when we play domestic cricket across the country that we don't get enough pitches where fast bowlers could come and bowl 40 overs in a game," he said.
He underlined the need for more "sporting pitches" in domestic cricket.
"So being a fast bowler, just on hindsight, I expect that there should be more pitches where the game is even for fast bowlers, for batters and spinners. A true sporting pitch, what I would call it." Thakur was delighted to lead West Zone in the Duleep Trophy, an experience that has kept him interested in the Mumbai captaincy in this domestic season.
Ajinkya Rahane had stepped away from Mumbai's leadership role ahead of the 2025-26 season, citing the need to groom a new leader.
"Yes, I am open for the captaincy. And of course, this (Duleep Trophy) was one of the steps where I got that experience of captaincy. It was just my first game and there were a lot of learnings.
"I wouldn't say that captaincy is difficult, but there are a lot of things which you learn only when you step into the captain's shoes," he signed off.
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