Dravid bats for trimming domestic cricket

'In fact some of the boys who’ve come into the team as well comment about how tough the domestic schedule is, especially in a country like India with the amount of travel involved,' Dravid said.

The five-day final of the Ranji Trophy is set to begin on Sunday in Mumbai and it will be the 10th match for both teams in just about two months. Each team in Elite groups has played seven four-day matches in less than 45 days with a break of just three days between games.

The knockouts from quarterfinals are five-day matches with the same gap up to the final. Throw in the travel across the length and breadth of the country, it's hectic by any standard. It is bound to take a heavy toll on players both mentally and physically and it wasn't surprising to see a few players, including Mumbai's Shardul Thakur, expressing their concerns over the packed schedule.

Their concern found an empathetic support from India head coach Rahul Dravid who emphasised the need to "hear out the players."

"I’ve heard the same as well. I saw some of the comments Shardul, I think, made," Dravid said, answering a pointed question. "In fact some of the boys who’ve come into the team as well comment about how tough the domestic schedule is, especially in a country like India with the amount of travel involved. So yeah, we need to hear the players. That’s a very important thing in a lot of these things. You need to hear your players, because they are the ones going through the grind and putting their bodies on the line, and if there are enough voices saying that, then yeah, I think there’s some need to look at it, and see how we can manage our schedules."

The domestic season in India is long and grinding. There's Duleep Trophy (inter-zonal multi-day format), Deodhar Trophy (inter-zonal one-day event), Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy (one-day) and Mushtaq Ali (T20). Throw in IPL and 'A' tour games, it's a packed schedule with little breathing space. And Dravid felt there was a need to re-look at the utility of some tournaments to the present day to ensure the best players are protected. 

"The Ranji Trophy is a long season, and if you add a Duleep and a Deodhar on top of that – last year, if I’m not mistaken, the Duleep started in June, it was just a month after the IPL, and your problem in this situation is your best players, the guys who are pushing for selection for India, are the ones that end up playing the most cricket. Because they keep getting selected at the next level, more and more, and their teams are the ones probably who are playing the semifinals and the finals, or that kind of situation.

"They are the ones who end up playing a lot of cricket, and you also want them to be playing for India, and India A tours. It can get quite tough on a lot of those boys, and maybe we need to re-look and see whether some of the tournaments that we are conducting are necessary in this day and age or they are not necessary. There needs to be an all-round review (involving) coaches and players, especially the guys who are part of the domestic circuit," he offered.