The BCCI has zeroed in on 23 national team hopefuls, whose workload will be strictly monitored during the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL).
These 23 players are the ones who are not in the BCCI’s Central Contract list which has elite internationals such as Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and M.S. Dhoni.
From Under-19 talents such as Prithvi Shaw and Shivam Mavi to last domestic season’s top run-getter Mayank Agarwal, the list includes all those whom the selection committee found worthy of national or A team call-up in near future.
“The basic plan was to divide the players into three groups. The first group comprises current U-19s. The second group is of old U-19s, where we have players who played U-19 India in last 3 to 4 years. And the third group is of current India A Players,” a senior BCCI office bearer told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
The BCCI wants to keep a strict vigil on these players primarily because in a tight schedule like IPL with so much travelling and lack of time between matches, the workload becomes paramount.
“Let me give you an example. Young fast bowlers like Shivam Mavi or a Navdeep Saini may be asked by their franchise coaches to bowl 60 to 100 deliveries during a training session to Chris Lynn or AB de Villiers since they may not be certainties in playing XI.
“Here the BCCI steps in. These youngsters are our assets. A Bhuvneshwar Kumar knows his body and workload but when it comes to Mavi, Navdeep or Avesh (Khan), it’s our duty to protect them for greater interest of Indian cricket,” the office bearer said.
So the training programme that these fast bowlers will follow is chalked out by the NCA trainers and physio.
The trainers and physios of all eight franchises are also needed to give an update to NCA regarding the workload management of all these players.
It is learnt that someone like Bengal’s Abhimanyu Easwaran is not in the list as he is not playing IPL but is certainly in radar for India A’s tour of England.
The following players (outside Central Contract) are being specially monitored by BCCI.
Current U-19s: Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill, Shivam Mavi and Kamlesh Nagarkoti.
Old U-19s: Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed and Sanju Samson.
Domestic, India A: Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Vijay Shankar, Jaydev Unadkat, Basil Thampi, Deepak Hooda, Mayank Agarwal, Ravikumar Samarth, Navdeep Saini, Siddarth Kaul, Hanuma Vihari, Ankit Bawne.
