The 2025-26 domestic season for Indian cricket started with the Duleep Trophy, where many India internationals are being asked to take part in it. Indian fast-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur, who is leading the West Zone in the tournament, believes that the players are being “taken for granted” with respect to the workload. As he said, it is “going to be a constant challenge” for a modern-day cricketer to maintain a high standard of fitness throughout the year with the amount of cricket being played.
“A lot of times we are taken for granted and the management is not to the highest level. No one actually comes and asks us how our body feels after playing for so many months. But yes, I have been managing my body with physios, S&Cs (Strength & Conditioning coach), doing constant work,” Thakur was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo after his side West Zone, failed to reach the finals.
“And it’s about playing cricket. I’m not saying that you keep pulling yourself out from playing the games. But frequent breaks here and there are good for the body,” he added.
Besides Thakur, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer and Dhruv Jurel (eventually ruled out due to dengue) were some big names featuring in the tournament. This comes after BCCI’s mandate, making it compulsory for all the Indian international players to take part in domestic cricket.
Earlier, as reported by The Indian Express, irked by the non-selection of top players like KL Rahul and Mohammed Siraj for the Duleep Trophy squad by South Zone, the BCCI had written to all state associations to select centrally-contracted players for the domestic season-opener.
The BCCI sent an email after a few associations didn’t pick international players for the premier domestic tournament, which started on August 28 in Bengaluru. The move was primarily triggered by the South Zone’s decision not to select Rahul, Washington Sundar, Prasidh Krishna, Sai Sudharsan, and Siraj.
Continuous grind
For Thakur, it has been a continuous grind for him in the last one year. Before the India call-up for the two-month-long Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against England, the Mumbai cricketer was a part of the Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League 2025. Before that, he played all the domestic games, including matches in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy, Ranji Trophy and Irani Trophy in the previous cycle. He feels it should be up to the players on how they manage their fitness and workloads, but said it shouldn’t be on their minds during a game.
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“Once you enter the game, you can’t be talking about workload management because then the game situation also takes over,” said Thakur. “When you go into the game, you’re expected to give your best. Whatever you have in your tank, you have to give it all. And I believe you shouldn’t be shying away from coming in and hitting the deck hard in the game, keep doing those efforts. Yes, when you go out of the ground and when you’re resting back home or you have those breaks in between the game, that’s where you try to manage your bodies and try to manage your load,” Thakur added.
“If you’re not having too much load in the game, then of course you can push yourself in the nets also. But if you’re having a big amount of load in the game, then you can take it a little bit easy in the nets,” he added.
