Speaking after India’s World T20 exit, coach Gary Kirsten sparked a club versus country debate, saying that he “couldn’t connect” with his players during the IPL, and felt he’d “lost” them. The players, Kirsten said, played a lot of T20 cricket as individuals over six weeks, but there was very little time to prepare as a unit.

The reasons for his anguish fell into two categories:

n The niggles picked up in the IPL — skipper MS Dhoni admitted that a majority of the squad was not at full fitness — could not be monitored by his support staff centrally

n The players that Kirsten got back, virtually on the eve of the World T20 championship, had been filling very different roles with their respective franchises.

As a result, the intensity was missing, and the mental fatigue was matched by a more tangible physical fatigue. In normal circumstances, Team India’s support staff drafts separate fitness plans for each player based on various factors — from areas of weakness to rates of metabolism — so they can play for longer periods without suffering injuries. These plans are followed even during off-season or Ranji matches.

But since the IPL franchises had top professionals with international experience in their own support staff, the centralised programme was sent out of the window. Players were dealing with new trainers, most of them big names in their field, whose responsibility started and ended with ensuring fitness for that tournament’s duration. Overwork in the short term, especially with so much cricket, was always likely to lead to problems in the days to come.

... contd.