As per a report from England, Virat Kohli had asked to be rested from the entire upcoming West Indies series. The former India skipper had already not been named in the ODI squad for the tour to West Indies. Kohli missed the first ODI against England on 12 July and is a doubt for the remaining two fixtures with a groin injury.
India are due to tour West Indies for three ODIs and five T20Is spread across the Caribbean and the USA. Alongside Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant are the other key members to have been rested for the West Indies ODIs.
The decision to rest a bulk of players didn't sit well with legendary India batter Sunil Gavaskar. "See, I do not agree with this concept of players resting. Not at all. You don't take rest during IPL, then why ask for it while playing for India? I don't agree with it. You will have to play for India. Don't talk about rest," Gavaskar said on Sports Tak.
"There are only 20 overs in an innings in T20. That does not take any toll on your body. In Test matches, the mind and the body take a toll, I get that. But I don't think there is much problem in T20 cricket," he added.
"I honestly feel that the BCCI needs to look into this concept of rest. All the Grade A cricketers have received very good contracts. They receive payment for every match. Tell me if there is any company whose CEO, or MDs get so much time off?"
Gavaskar has a point but do India's Grade A+ and Grade A cricketers really sit out that often? We take a look.
For the purpose of equivalence, we keep our focus firmly on Kohli, once the first name on the team sheet, now having his inclusion questioned. The 33-year-old last scored a century against Bangladesh in November 2019 in the pink-ball Test. Since the 136 run knock at Eden Gardens, he's gone over 100 matches, across formats, without a ton. It is not because of lack of opportunities or for omission from playing XI.
In the period since November 2019 and until 13 July, India have played 24 Tests, 25 ODIs and 46 T20Is. Kohli has featured in 19 Tests, 21 ODIs and 27 T20Is or nearly 80% of the Tests, 84% of the ODIs but only 58% of the Twenty20 matches.
Across formats, none of the Grade A+ and Grade A contract players have played more matches than Kohli. Kohli has played 67 matches across formats while Rishabh Pant has 60 matches in that same period to be the second busiest highly-paid individual. On the other side, Ishant Sharma's chances with the Indian team have dwindled and he's played just 10 matches - not good ROI, as far as BCCI is concerned, for someone who pockets Rs 5 crore per year.
When looking purely at Test matches, Cheteshwar Pujara (91.67%) has played the most Tests followed by Pant (83.33%), Ajinkya Rahane (83.33%) and Kohli (79.17%). At the other end of the spectrum, Hardik Pandya and Shikhar Dhawan didn't play any Test cricket.
Moving to limited overs cricket. Kohli has played most 50-over matches for India. He has played 21 of the 25 matches with KL Rahul next on the list at 19 matches played. Dhawan is third most-featured at 17 matches (68%).
With T20 World Cup on the horizon, all of Kohli, Rohit and Pant have played equal number of matches (27 from 46) with Pandya the next up on 23 matches.
Test match specialists in Pujara, Rahane and Ishant haven't played a single limited overs game. Pujara's last ODI was in 2014; Rahane's last limited overs assignment came against South Africa in 2018 and Ishant's last was in 2016.
India's top-tier contract holders:
Grade A+ (Rs 7 crore): Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah
Grade A (Rs 5 crore): R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul Mohammad Shami, Ishant Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya
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