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‘Cricketers have limited careers, we cannot play till the (age of) 60, 70’
‘There can't be excuses of burnout, tight match schedule’
Flamboyant India batsman Rohit Sharma feels cricketers have a short shelf life and they shouldn't complain about burnouts.
Stating that he doesn't believe in taking a break citing tight schedule as excuse, Rohit said: "Cricketers have limited careers, we cannot play till the (age of) 60, 70. We have to make the most of the time we have.
"There can't be excuses of burnout, tight match schedule."
Asked whether he would like to take a break at some point given the tight schedules, the Mumbai batsman, who holds the record for the highest ODI score (of 264) said, "Not really. I am coming back from an injury. I don't see myself doing that, I want to play as much as possible. Whenever I get the opportunity I want to be there on the field."
He also said cricketers these days are used to tight schedules.
"We are all used to tight schedules. It is not happening now, it has been happening for a while now. We all understand how to take care of our bodies and there are specialists (physios/trainers) to help us out," said Rohit, who is in Chennai for the first ODI of the India-Australia series to be held on September 17.
"Because of the schedules, you see a lot of rotation happening. Whenever we play a series we have to make sure that the guys are 100 per cent fit and the trainers take care of that."
Asked about India's plan to contain Australia captain Steve Smith, Rohit said, "We have to make sure he doesn't score too many runs."
Rohit, who is coming off a good ODI tour of Sri Lanka where he scored 302 runs including two centuries and a 50, said he hoped to continue the good form against the visiting Australians.
"I will be happy if I can come up with the same performances as last time. Things have changed, team dynamics have changed. The venues will be different. I have to start afresh and not think about what happened in the past. I will be happy to get the same performances out again," he said.
Rohit had scored 491 runs in the last home series against Australia in 2013 which India won 3-2 with two games being abandoned due to weather conditions.
Asked to compare Ravindra Jadeja, who was rested for the limited-overs leg of the Lanka tour and from the first three ODIs against Australia and Axar Patel, Rohit said both are different.
"I would have to see a lot more of him (Axar) before I can comment. He has done well so far. Yazuvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav are good too and leg-spinners are always helpful in getting us breakthroughs," he said.