‘Be careful what you wish for’ is one of the more confusing, confounding statements. Why should I be careful when I wish for something and that wish is eventually granted? It should be all good, right?
Well, not necessarily.
One can’t say with total certainty, but it’s almost a given that for two and a half years, from December 2023, Shreyas Iyer must have wished for a recall to the Indian Twenty20 squad. Forced to watch from the (dis)comfort of his living room, he must have rued not being a part of two World Cup-winning outfits despite holding an exemplary 20-over record and despite having led one franchise (Kolkata Knight Riders) to the title before captaining another (Punjab Kings) to the title round the very next year.
Shreyas was superfluous to India’s scheme of things until, in the immediacy of their successful title defence in Ahmedabad this March, he was brought back to the T20 setup – as captain, no less, to replace underperforming batter Suryakumar Yadav, whose leadership skills couldn’t secure him even the shortest of ropes.
It must have been a dream come true for Shreyas, now a mature 31, to be thrust into the T20I hot seat. He was tasked with following in the illustrious captaincy footsteps of Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar, successive T20 World Cup-winning skippers, but he knew he had the respect of his colleagues, and the astuteness and the chops to make it count.
Just four months into his stint, Shreyas can be forgiven for wondering if this truly is what he signed up for. Between June 26, when he made his first leadership foray in Belfast against Ireland, and now, he has played in five different countries spread over three continents.
Shreyas Iyer needs to lead from the front. | Photo Credit: PTI
With a sixth nation and a fourth continent waiting to welcome him on Thursday, when India play the first of five T20Is against New Zealand in Christchurch.
In these last 114 days since Shreyas first walked out for the toss, India have played 21 matches against Ireland, England, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Japan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and West Indies. Phew, just writing it makes the head spin furiously (just as one is sure reading it too sparks the same effect). Imagine playing every one of these matches, in different time zones, often without enough time to rest the body, get over the rigours of long travels and crazily changing time zones, and be expected to perform at one’s peak because, hello, you are a (very well paid) professional sportsperson, so excuses cut no ice.
Crazy, huh? Those five letters in conjunction don’t even begin to tell the tale.
Cold facts
Here are some basic, cold facts. India played the last game of their seven-match tour of Ireland and England on July 11 – that was already seven matches in 16 days. They had hardly set foot on Indian soil before they flew out to Zimbabwe, for a three-match series between July 23 and 26 – three games in five days. Upon return home, from September 13 to 17, that’s five nights, there were three matches against Afghanistan, mercifully all at the same venue. Immediately after the last of those fixtures, the team flew out to Tokyo on its way to Sano for a one-off showdown against Japan (September 22), which was followed by the semifinals and finals at the Asian Games on October 1 and 3 against Sri Lanka and Pakistan respectively.
If India only played two games in Nisshin, it was because their scheduled quarterfinal against Afghanistan (on September 28) was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
Almost the entire Asiad squad was picked for the five-match face-off against two-time former World Cup winners West Indies, which meant the team flew out of Japan on October 4 to front up against the Caribbeans in Lucknow on October 6. The journey entailed a stopover in Hong Kong, and another in either Delhi or Mumbai, before arriving at their destination.
One of the senior players admitted that while in his mind, he was running flat out, he was shocked after watching videos that he was labouring and lumbering because his body was tired, but also because his mind was utterly and totally shot.
Shreyas Iyer brought up his maiden T20I ton in the opener against the West Indies. | Photo Credit: PTI
“People always forget that there’s a mental fatigue also in the game that plays a big part,” Morne Morkel, the Indian bowling coach, pointed out the other night in Bengaluru, on the eve of the (washed out) decider against West Indies. “You have to manage that, you have to be smart with it. This T20 side, the white-ball side — the Asian Games, then right back, straight into a full series now. They had to fly off from Hyderabad to Delhi for a presentation there. They got here at 1 am. And now we have to get them ready for a must-win game. In all reality, that’s something that we get.”
The Hyderabad-Delhi trip was because the Asian Games medallists were felicitated in the national capital on October 15. The Indian women were playing against Zimbabwe in Raipur the following day, the men in Bengaluru on the 17th. Sometimes, scheduling snafus extend beyond just the calendar of matches, it would appear.
Without seeking to make excuses, Morkel continued to hold forth on the fatigue factor. The former South African pacer knows a thing or two about that aspect and how it affects players, having represented his country 247 times (544 wickets) across formats between 2006 and 2018. “These guys are also human,” he remarked, plaintively, trying desperately if somewhat unsuccessfully to couch his anguish. “For me, your execution and your skills will be better when you’ve recovered well, when you’ve slept well, once you’ve mentally refreshed. And that is a challenge. We’re going to fly now to New Zealand. It’s going to be jet lag. It’s a jam-packed schedule there as well. And that is sometimes a tricky thing. I’ve got a lot of respect for these guys, with the performances that they are at the moment producing for Team India, with the schedule we have. That’s why I sometimes think we can allow them to make a mistake and allow them to have an off game and not be on them, because of the mental load and expectation on these players.”
Because of the constant travel-play-travel routine, recovery times are limited – the five West Indies T20s, for instance, were crammed into a 12-night time-frame – and that automatically translates to lesser time at practice, especially for the faster bowlers and when it comes to fielding and catching.
As it is, it is practically impossible to work on technical aspects in one three-hour session, which is the maximum possible given that there are only two days (if players are lucky) between matches. That’s one of the reasons for players to keep repeating mistakes, because unless you work on them assiduously, it is impossible to rectify them and time is at a premium during a series.
The large Indian contingent of players and support staff are flying out of Bengaluru to Christchurch, via Dubai, in two batches. The first group left on Sunday morning, barely hours after reaching their hotel around 11 p.m. from the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium following the washout. The second – slightly lucky (?) — is departing on Monday morning, but the downside to flying out 24 hours later is that they get that much less time to adapt to a drastically different time zone and to acclimatise to the conditions, that are bordering on the cold with summer yet to set in in the Antipodes.
The Indians will have exactly one full practice session, on Wednesday, before the New Zealand series kicks off. Which brings us to what would in normal course be a logical question – what is the purpose, beyond commercial interests, of playing successive five-match T20I series when the next T20 World Cup is a good 24 months away?
Couldn’t saner counsel have prevailed and these showdowns restricted to three outings apiece? How smart are we to treat our players as commodities?
Given the intense scrap for places, especially in the 20-over format, it will take a very brave and self-assured individual to ask for a break, because in our country more than anywhere else, that is seen as a sign of weakness, if not dereliction of duty.
Against this backdrop, is it not incumbent upon those who hold higher seats of power and who are in a position to influence decision-making to be more empathetic and to demand less of functional human bodies that are being stretched to the thin physically, mentally and psychologically?
It was, therefore, interesting if somewhat unsurprising, to hear Tilak Varma’s views on the scheduling.
The 23-year-old left-hander has already played in 70 T20Is since his debut in August 2023, and is Shreyas’ designated deputy, which means that his responsibilities extend beyond providing the final push in his new avatar as the finisher at No. 5. He will be part of team meetings, he is expected to offer technical inputs and be prepared to step in for Shreyas when the latter leaves the field for whatever reason, or is ruled out for a game or three.
“It will be slightly challenging,” he said of the immediacy of having to front up against New Zealand, before quickly adding, “But as professional cricketers, we can’t give any excuses with regard to back-to-back series, different time zones and all those things, because we are used to it now. For any youngster coming in the team, it will be slightly challenging. But again, you are playing for the country at the highest level. You should be mentally strong enough to prepare for any challenge, any conditions. That way, you can become a bigger player.“
That’s a great attitude to possess, without a doubt, but sometimes, attitude alone isn’t enough. The spirit might be willing, but if the body is unimaginably tired and the mind is so fatigued that it comes in the way of smart decision-making in tight, tense situations which are dime a dozen in the frenzied world of T20 cricket, then what use attitude?
The demand to host/play in India is unquestionably high, because few players command the same pulling power as the Shreyas’ and the Tilaks, the Abhisheks and the Sanjus, the Kishans and the Sooryavanshis (we are not even talking about the Rohits and the Kohlis and the Gills and the Bumrahs here).
India also pride themselves on being able to put out more than one T20 side capable of beating the best. Maybe there is something to reflect on there? Like we said previously – goose, golden eggs…