Taking breaks from international matches but playing in IPL: The curious case of managing the workload of Virat Kohli

Once again Virat Kohli has been ‘rested’ for yet another international assignment. He has been excluded from the upcoming 3-match T20 series against the West Indies.

In the last few months itself, Kohli has been rested from several international matches, including a Test match in June, when India took on Afghanistan. It does not really matter whether the opponent is Afghanistan or Australia, as playing in the white flannels is always a matter of great pride for a player.

Kohli was also rested during the matches against Ireland, before the England series. But more importantly, he was also rested from playing the Asia Cup this year, a tournament that pretty much gives the bragging rights to the winner as the best ODI team in Asia. Surely, not an insignificant tournament!

India’s batting in the absence of its talisman struggled in matches where the openers failed in the Asia Cup. What if India had lost to Bangladesh in the final or suffered the ignominy of losing to Afghanistan in the league stage? They were close to losing both those matches, anyway.

Is playing in IPL more important than playing for India?

Also, in these times of no bilateral series with Pakistan, why would one not like to avail the rare opportunity to play against a side, with whom the team has a storied rivalry that goes beyond just numbers and statistics?

The latest installment of those breaks from cricket has now been announced by the selectors. It’s to apparently manage his workload, so that he remains fresh for the more important future assignments such as the Australia tour and the 2019 ICC World Cup.

Now that’s a wise decision. But all this talk of giving constant breaks at regular intervals to India’s all-format captain and its best batsman would make sense only if they ensure that he does not play 50 days of high-voltage IPL that is scheduled just before the World Cup.

If he actually plays the IPL however, then taking breaks from donning the Indian jersey might very well be construed as putting commercial interest over the glory of playing for your nation. Going by the previous track records, and the seriousness of BCCI and IPL franchises to make IPL 2019 a grand success, it’s highly unlikely Kohli will be “rested” from the IPL so that he remains fresh for one of the most important assignments of his budding Captaincy career – 2019 ICC World Cup.

This only forces one to question the constant breaks that are being given to him for national duty, whilst he is happily allowed to don franchise colours.