ODI World Cup 2023: Management of travel fatigue for Team India in 2023 World Cup will be crucial

The Indian cricket team, under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, has already traversed a distance of nearly 8,000 km from Guwahati to Pune for their ongoing 2023 World Cup round-robin matches. Notably, they are the only team in the tournament not playing multiple games at one venue, necessitating extensive travel across the country.

To mitigate travel fatigue and prevent burnout from the demanding schedule, the Indian Cricket Board (ICB) has arranged for private charters and scheduled departures the day after each match, post-lunch, for the Men in Blue.

“The team is flying on private charters. It’s a long World Cup and keeping the travel schedule in mind, we have ensured to have only charters. The timings of the flights also have been cautiously kept around lunchtime after the match. There are some changes – say via a private charter – when it comes to tricky destinations like Guwahati or Dharamsala but mostly charters are direct,” says an ICB official.

Shubman Gill has joined and started travelling with the team

The routine of post-lunch departures on private charters was briefly disrupted in the case of Shubman Gill. The batsman, who was recuperating from dengue in Chennai, opted for a commercial evening flight to Ahmedabad. However, now fully recovered, Gill has rejoined the team and is currently travelling with them. During the match against Afghanistan in Delhi, he stayed back in Chennai while the rest of his teammates made the journey.

On the evening of October 11, the 24-year-old arrived in Ahmedabad, a day prior to his team members who adhered to the usual afternoon departure routine on October 12, following the Afghanistan fixture.

In the lead-up to their matches, the attendance in the nets on the eve of fixtures has been notably low. However, two days prior to each game, there has been a surge in attendance with packed houses observed. In Chennai, just before the game, it was a full house, except for the unwell Shubman Gill. Additionally, on October 17 in Pune, a high-intensity open nets session occurred. During the period between matches, particularly in cases like India vs Afghanistan and India vs Pakistan, where there isn’t a significant gap, the players have opted for a more relaxed approach.