India vs Sri Lanka 2017: Virat Kohli talks about managing the workload of Indian players

Ahead of the first Test against Sri Lanka, Indian captain Virat Kohli addressed the media and spoke about few aspects keeping the Sri Lanka and the upcoming South Africa tour in mind.

With India's tour of the Rainbow nation getting underway few days after the Sri Lanka series, one can expect a lot of players to be rested to manage their workload.

When he was asked about the team management managing the players' workload, Kohli explained how the people wrongly look at the workload of players. He said, "look, this is one thing which people don't explain properly. There are a lot of talks from the outside in terms of workload whether the player should be rested or not. For example, all cricketers play 40 international games in a year. Three guys who should get rest, their workload should be managed. 11 players play the game and not everyone would have batted for 45 overs in an ODI or not everyone would have bowled 30 overs in a Test match. But, the guys who are doing that regularly are the ones who need to be assessed because the body takes so much time to recover and needs rest as well."

He also added, "people only look into this like everyone has played 40 games. They don't look at the time spent at the crease, the numbers of runs ran, the number of overs bowled by the bowlers, what were the conditions, what were the temperatures like, whether the body is recovered or not. I don't think people look into that analysis. From the outside, it looks like why are few players not rested? Everyone played the same number of games. But, not everyone has the same kind of workload in every game."

"Now that we have such a strong core of 20-25 players, you don't want important players to break down at crucial times and that is where you need to maintain the balance especially with the guys who play all the three formats. It is almost impossible to maintain the same intensity and the level of performance like what you do in the earlier phase of the season. I think those details are very important when you are managing one's workload," he concluded.

I am not a robot. You can slice my skin and check. I bleed.

Kohli has been playing continuously for the past year and a half and he is someone who badly needs a rest even though he still looks sharp in the field. A brief rest will keep him fresh for the South African tour.

He was asked whether he will need a rest for which he quipped, "definitely, I do need a rest. Why don't I need a rest? When I think of the time that my body should be rested, I will ask for it. I am not a robot. You can slice my skin and check. I bleed."

The first Test between India and Sri Lanka will be played at the Eden Gardens from tomorrow (16 November) before the teams move to Nagpur and Delhi for the second and third Test respectively. After the three-match Test series, both the teams will take part in a three-match ODI and three-match T20I series before Virat Kohli and his men go to South Africa for the much-anticipated series.