David Warner does a Virat Kohli and cites gruelling schedule can be harmful for players

David Warner does a Virat Kohli and cites gruelling schedule can be harmful for players

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David Warner has reiterated Indian skipper Virat Kohli’s plea to review the cricketing schedule of the national team after he went through a ‘mental breakdown’ post the Ashes series win. Warner has asked Cricket Australia to prepare strategies to manage player workload in the upcoming year.

The Australian team pulled off a stunning victory at the end of 2017 as they demolished England in the Ashes series by winning all four Test matches last December. But the visitors managed to bounce back from a disappointing loss to the Aussies as they won the five-match ODI series by a margin of 4-1.

Australian captain Steve Smith conceded that his current recuperative break from cricket was desperately needed and that he was unaware of how mentally fatigued he actually was because of the Ashes. Indian skipper Virat Kohli had earlier voiced his concerns over the same issue ahead of the series versus Sri Lanka where he asked the BCCI to review the schedule with an aim to take care of fatigue.

David Warner backed Kohli and Smith’s opinions as he claimed that he too went through a ‘mental breakdown’ post the Ashes.

“In hindsight, you can say yes (given) the way that we performed. But even if we performed as well, you probably would have got a break as well. I just think the thing that’s missing is the gap between the last Test and the first one-day game. England had, I think, four players maybe (playing both Tests and ODIs) and besides Chris Woakes, there wasn’t another bowler. You look at little things like that that can benefit us in a way,” Warner said in a chat with cricket.com.au.

Warner has praised Australian side for their performance in the T20I series where the Aussies recently chased a target of 243 versus New Zealand to set a new record for the highest T20 run chase.

“It was a bit of a mental breakdown from a few of us. If you look at the Twenty20 team at the moment, the way these guys have come out of the Big Bash fresh, they’re just killing it. It’s sort of set the example that if we come around to the same situation again with a big Ashes series, do we look at certain things? And that’s up to Cricket Australia to look at and judge.”

“It’s up to the individual as well to put their hand up. If you are cooked or something, you’re an adult, you’re not going to get shot down for putting your hand up. We have the onus upon ourselves to do that,” Warner added.

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