'If Rohit asks for rest, will give him a game off or two'

Mumbai: Mumbai Indians head coach Mark Boucher said on Wednesday that he will have no problem in resting Rohit Sharma during the league stage of the IPL provided the captain is able to find form with the bat. Mumbai Indians will be desperate for a turn around after a poor show last year when they finished last in the 10-team IPL. With Mumbai Indians starting their IPL 2023 season with an away clash against Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 2, the focus will also be on the workload management of the players and especially Rohit, who will lead India in the 50-over World Cup later this year in October-November.

Sharma, when asked if he was open to take a backseat and rest during a few IPL games in the league round, preferred to have the question answered by the former South African wicketkeeper and coach Boucher. "In regards to resting Rohit, he is the captain. Hopefully he gets into some sort of form and hopefully does not want to rest, but we will be adapt to whatever the situation is," Boucher said.

Rohit had a forgettable outing with the bat as well last season as he made just 268 runs in 14 matches at 19.14 without any half-century. "If I can get the best out of him as a captain and a player, it will be great and that means that if he wants to rest for one or two games then I will do that. No problem," Boucher added. On the new rule of impact players being implemented from this IPL, Rohit said it does not negate or reduce the role of an all-rounder.

"I don't know whether it will impact an all-rounder because an all-rounder will always be an all-rounder. No matter at what stage in the game, you have an option of bowling him at any time, or making it bat at any time. "With that player, you can always fill that gap, maybe play him as the fifth or the sixth bowler or an extra better," Sharma said. "In the hindsight you can say that but you still want to put your best players on the park there might be a slight difference to it, but I do not think it is going to impact so much, in terms of having an all-rounder in your team or not," Sharma added.

Sometimes the media and people look too much into workload in T20 cricket. "Test cricket and one-day cricket are tough on the body, T20 cricket is short. We should not be talking about workload in T20 cricket with all due respect," said the former South African wicketkeeper-batter.

Boucher said he doesn't feel the need to manage workload in the shortest format. However, considering the ODI World Cup at home later this year, the Indian players' workload will be monitored closely by the BCCI over the course of the IPL. "It is amazing we are even talking about workload in T20 cricket. Probably about 10 or 15 years ago we would not be having this conversation. Workload is something… we have the science behind it, we have got trainers and we have got the guys who give us the data," said Boucher on Wednesday.