india head coach ravi Shastri believes the forced break for the indian players which has come due to the coronavirus pandemic is a "welcome rest" as they can now re-energise themselves and get some much-needed rest. Talking to Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain and Rob Key on a Sky sports podcast, Shastri said indian players had started showing signs of mental fatigue after playing five T20Is, three ODIs and two Tests in New Zealand.
Shastri said "(This rest) cannot be a bad thing because towards the end of the new zealand tour, you could see some cracks coming up when it came to mental fatigue, physical fitness and injuries and the amount of cricket we have played over the last ten months, that was beginning to take its toll. Guys like me, and some other guys from the support staff, we left india on May 23 for the world cup in England. Since then we have been at home for 10 or 11 days.
After the new zealand tour, india were slated to play three ODIs against south africa which was cancelled. Also, they were supposed to participate in a two-month long indian Premier League (IPL), which has now been suspended till april 15. He said "There are certain players who played all three formats, so you can imagine the toll it has taken on them, especially being on the field, adjusting from T20s to Test match cricket and all the travel that goes with that because we travelled quite a lot". india is currently under a 21-day lockdown which started on march 25. All sporting events have been postponed in the wake of novel coronavirus which has infected more than 800 people so far in the country besides claiming close to 20 lives.
