Virat Kohli Said Will Rest if Needed

On Wednesday, Indian skipper Virat Kohli said that he will ask for a break if he needs to.?Kohli responded to reports saying that?he?asked the Indian selectors for rest after the second Test against?Sri Lanka. The reports continued saying that the break could cover the succeeding One-Day International (ODI) series.?Chief National Selector M.S.K. Prasad dismissed the rumours, saying that Kohli had made himself available for selection for all the three Test matches. The selectors would look at resting the skipper only after that.

Virat Kohli said, “Definitely I do need rest, why don’t I need rest? When I think of the time my body should be rested, I’ll ask for it. I am not a robot you can slice my skin and check if I bleed”. He spoke?about managing the workload with all-rounder?Hardik Pandya?being rested for the first two Tests. He said that players who contribute extra on the field need rest and not all understand the situation.

He continued, “This is one thing which I don’t think people explain properly. There is a lot of talk from the outside in terms of workload — whether a player should be rested or should not be rested. All cricketers play 40 games in a year. Three guys who should get rest, their workloads are to be managed. 11 players play the game but not everyone would have batted 45 overs in an ODI game or not everyone would have bowled 30 overs in a Test match”.

Virat Kohli said that not everyone has the same kind of workload in every game. Only those who have major workload. He cited the example of Cheteshwar Pujara during a Test season. Pujara will have maximum workload because he spends so much time at the crease. Kohli said that his game is built that way. Pujara cannot be compared to a counter-attacking batsman, because the workload would have been lesser.

He said “So I think all these things have to be taken into consideration. Purely because of the fact that we have 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”.