Asia Cup 2018 | Virender Sehwag ‘shocked’ by Indian team's tight schedule
Virender Sehwag has taken a dig at the cramped schedule of India team in the Asia Cup 2018, in which India has been slated to face Pakistan without a break. He stated that Indian players won’t be able to recover, given the tight schedule, which would give Pakistan an undue edge in the clash.
The International cricket governing body, ICC, announced the schedule of Asia Cup 2018 on Wednesday. The schedule has attracted considerable criticism as ICC has scheduled India's match without a break and India would take on Pakistan on September 19, a day after their match on September 18. Sehwag pointed out that scheduling has not been done correctly and with a schedule like this, players won’t be able to recover properly. The last time these two nations locked horns, the Men in Green schooled the Men in Blue in the ICC Champions Trophy final in 2017.
"I am really shocked to see the scheduling because which country plays back-to-back cricket matches these days? There was a gap of two days in between the T20 matches in England and here you are playing ODIs under hot Dubai weather and that too without a break. So, I don't think this is a correct scheduling," Virendra Sehwag told India TV.
"A player needs at least 48 hours to recover after playing an ODI match because you field for 3.5 hours and after that if you bat for 2 hours then it makes your total time spend on the ground to 5.5 hours. So, it takes a minimum of 24 to 48 hours for a player to recover."
Owing to the political turmoil between the two countries, UAE was chosen as the host venue. The Asia Cup 2018 would transpire from September 15-28. Sehwag stated that the tight schedule would give Pakistan an unfair advantage and given the high stakes of an India-Pakistan match, India would not want to lose the important match.
"When Team India will play the Asia Cup in Dubai in September, there will be too much heat and it will hamper the players' recovery process. Pakistan will be in a good shape whereas the Indian players will be tired. And if we end up losing the match, then there might be a problem as we all are very passionate whenever we play against Pakistan. We always want India to win against Pakistan but if the Indian players are tired then Pakistan will definitely have the advantage," he said.
While India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan have booked their berths to Asia Cup, UAE, Singapore, Oman, Nepal, Malaysia and Hong Kong would vie for the sixth spot
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