Player Rotation Policy in Cricket – Opinion – Part 2
Continued from part 1…
Countries like India and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 feel the concept of rotation is not applicable to their cases. In these teams, often being dropped is seen as a hint towards a permanent axing.
The biggest fear that players face is the prospect of not making it back in to the side after being rested or dropped. This fear or suspicion of rotation is highly unwarranted, and stands as the biggest challenge in the implementation of such a policy.
Cricket boards of different countries spend huge amounts of money on players’ fitness, just to see them fall to injuries. Rotation is a cheaper, more efficient alternative, provided you have the bench strength to back it up.
The purpose of a selection board/panel is to select a playing XI likely to thrive in a competition. However at the same time, they also have the responsibility of planning for the future. With the volume of cricket being played across a range of formats
today, their job has become very important.
For Instance, the Australian selection panel would have to choose a formidable playing XI for the Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka, but will also have to take into consideration the fact that next year they will have to contend in two Ashes series before
the 2015 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 World Cup.
It is not prudent to bank on a set of players and play them till they break-down, both physically and mentally. In order to maintain a healthy balance, new blood needs to be groomed so that an upcoming generation is capable of replacing the outgoing one.
It is more sensible to have a large pool of competent players to choose from. This allows selectors to not only rest key players but also treat every player individually. They can consider factors particular to a player and then come up with a schedule which
would bring out the best in him and extract optimal performance.
As Jonathan Howcroft (a writer on backpagelead.com) once said, rotation will make the selection process more like playing the stock market. Investing on the upward curve and selling as soon as a decline is projected.
However contrasting views about implementing the policy exist. For instance when http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sourav-Chandidas-Ganguly-c90746 hailed the move.
“It's a good thing and should happen. It has been a long tour and India lost four consecutive Test matches, which can be mentally very draining. For the guys who have been there from the 8th of December, it's been almost two and half months. It's good that
everyone is getting a chance. All players will be mentally fresh for the final stages of the tournament,” said Ganguly in February 2012.
At the same time, another former Indian, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bishan-Singh-Bedi-c48133, believes that a rotation policy only makes sense when the players are in good form.
Nonetheless, one thing is for certain, the goods in favour of rotation policy outweigh the bads, only if it is implemented carefully.
Disclaimer: Any views and opinions expressed in this article are solely of the author and do not represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy
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