sehwag

Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag called for the boycott of the Asia Cup 2018 by the Indian team after the scheduling of the India matches has come under heavy criticism.

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India would be playing two games in consecutive days – first against a qualifier and then against Pakistan and concerns were raised over the tight schedule. On the other hand, Pakistan will have a two-day period of rest.

Speaking on India TV, Sehwag said, Why there s such hue and cry over playing the Asia Cup? Don t play the Asia Cup. Prepare the team for the home series or the away series. It s really difficult to play back-to-back games.

India will be playing Pakistan on September 19 – the first encounter between the arch-rivals since Pakistan s ICC Champions Trophy final drubbing of India.

As per a report in cricketnext.com a BCCI official too slammed the schedule, calling in mindless and asked for the organisers to reschedule the matches.

However, Sehwag went on step ahead. During the show, the opening bat went on to add, There shouldn t be any back-to-back games. If the BCCI had to cancel anything then it should have been the qualifier game in the Asia Cup rather than reducing the four-day practice match against Essex to three days.

A player needs at least 48 hours to recover after playing an ODI match because you field for 3.5 hours and after that if you bat for 2 hours then it makes your total time spent on the ground to 5.5 hours. So, it takes a minimum of 24 to 48 hours for a player to recover, said Sehwag as reported by The Statesman.

The Asia Cup 2018 will be hosted in UAE with India and Pakistan placed in Group A along with a qualifier while Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are in Group B.