Only Jasprit Bumrah can afford to speak out his mind and escape unscathed when he explained during the ongoing ICC (International Cricket Council) T20 World Cup that India's poor performance was on account of fatigue. Outgoing head coach Ravi Shastri too admitted that the Indian cricketers didn't switch on in pressure situations, having been in a bio-secure bubble for six months. By getting knocked out of the marquee event, the Indian players might have earned at least a week's rest ahead of a nerve-wracking schedule that shall continue when they return home. What we shall see in the coming months is a lot of talk of resting or rotating players, but if past experience is to go by none of the top players will step aside. No sponsor would like to see the stars rested either in franchise cricket or international cricket.
If India had played the ICC T20 World Cup Finals on 14th November 2021, they would have had a two-day break before the first of the three T20s against New Zealand. That New Zealand agreed to this schedule is largely due to India's economic muscle in world cricket. Now Indians have an eight-day break! And if New Zealand play the World Cup finals, they would be flying out of Dubai straight to Jaipur and be on the field in a blink.
The criss-cross travel for Indian cricketers across India begins followed by a whirlwind tour to South Africa and again frequent flight-hopping across India till June 2022.
India play three T20s against New Zealand at Jaipur, Ranchi and Kolkata on 17, 19 and 21 November 2021 reespectively. After a three-day break India and New Zealand meet in the first of the two Tests at Kanpur from 25 to 29 November 2021. So, obviously the Kiwis aren't playing any long-form warm-up game, as they switch from T20 to Tests, something India is used to on away tours anyways. The first Test will be followed by the second and final Test at Mumbai from 3rd to 7th December 2021.
After a nine day break, India play South Africa at Johannesburg in the first of the three Tests. As in the 2017-18 Test series in South Africa, the schedule leaves no scope for any warm-up game, something Virat Kohli had complained about after India lost the first two Tests then, only to win the third and then sweep the ODI and T20 series because by that time the players were fully acclimatised to the conditions and pace and bounce of the wickets. Even in the three Tests, India bowlers had done well, picking up all 60 South African wickets. Only Kohli made a top score of 153 in the second Test, while other Indian batsmen struggled with adjustments to pace and bounce on South African pitches.
The three Tests in South Africa this time around will be followed by 3 ODIs and 4 T20s that conclude on 26th of January 2022. After a ten day break, India play three ODIs and three T20s versus the West Indies from 6th to 20th of February 2022 at home. Barely after a four day break begins the first of the two Tests against Sri Lanka which shall be followed by three T20s that conclude on 18th of March 2022.
On 27th of March 2022 begins the next season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) which will go on till 21st of May 2022. All talk of workload management of key Indian players so that they aren't too stressed during IPL, and are thus fresh for national duty, has been time and again thrown out of the window by the Board for Cricket Control in India (BCCI), such is the pressure from franchises. With 10 teams and 74 matches, the players will go through another gruelling summer. We have seen how teams like England and Pakistan have excelled in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup so far because their players weren't part of the IPL second leg that preceded the World Cup in the intense heat and dust in the UAE.
Interestingly India have scheduled five T20s at home from 9-19 June 2022 just before the tour of England where they have to play the 2021 Test series' abandoned 5th Test from 1st to 5th of July followed by three T20s and three ODIs from 7 to 17 July 2022. With the T20 series between India and South Africa concluding on 19 June 2022, Indians have an eleven day break before the Test match in England. Again no scope for a warm-up game before the Test series in English conditions. Cricket Ireland has offered to host warm-up games for India to help Irish cricket with some moolah before the England tour, but the eleven day window is too narrow, and anyway too stressful for India's top players who feature in all the formats.
