BENGALURU: The Covid-19 situation delayed the start of the domestic season in India. The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is now set to kick off proceedings on November 4. It will be followed by Vijay Hazare Trophy on December 8 and the season culminates mid-March with the Ranji Trophy. In short, it is going to be a hectic season.
With big teams like Karnataka, who are title contenders in all formats, it remains to be seen how they manage the workload of players, especially the pacers. What makes the situation even more complicated is the quarantine measures in place inside the bio-bubble. It is at this juncture that the depth of the squad will be tested. Karnataka bowling coach Sreenath Aravind is aware of workload management.
“It is very important that the workload management has to be taken care of. So that is why we are looking out for each and every bowler. Basically, we will try and ensure that everyone remains injury-free. It’s not in our hands but we can remedy it. We keep data and use that to assess them. We’ll take care of every player. We can make changes too. League matches are going on so there are enough replacements,” said Aravind on Thursday.
As far as Karnataka are concerned, Abhimanyu Mithun, Prasidh Krishna, Ronit More and Prateek Jain are their key pacers, but the last two are injured. If the duo is not fit for the T20 tournament, players like Vijaykumar Vyshak, Vidyadhar Patil and others, who have done well in the KSCA leagues, might have to be ready. It will be interesting to see how these inexperienced players fare under pressure. But Aravind is keeping a close tab on some of them at the ongoing probables camp.
"I speak to them about strategies, about the areas to bowl, field placements needed, also slower ones, yorker with the new ball. That is why we had excellent results in the video sessions today. They are able to communicate well also. Youngsters coming in are also already matured," said Aravind.