41 DAYS OF CRICKET IN 101 SHUBMAN'S UNFORGIVING SCHEDULE

Welcome to the world of Shubman Gill. By the time India's Test and ODI captain will have completed this winter's schedule, he will have logged enough airmiles to be eligible for the most premium frequent flyer programmes ever designed.

- - SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN @New Delhi

SEPTEMBER 10, 14, 19, 21, 24, 26, 28.

October 2-4, 10-14. October 19, 23, 25, 29, 31.

November 2, 6, 8, 14-18, 22-26, 30.

December 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 17, 19.

It also acts as a window into the kind of calendar that's baked into most elite teams these days. With Gill's ascension as captain in ODIs as well, he will know that he won't be afforded enough workload management days, days that will be readily available to some of his other all format colleagues. From that perspective alone, his is a schedule that's unprecedented by most modern standards.

Even otherwise, the term, at least from an Indian cricket perspective, doesn't apply to batters. "I don't know how you look at workload management, but generally we do it for bowlers, mainly fast bowlers," Sitanshu Kotak, India's batting coach, had told reporters during the Asia Cup last month.