Fix domestic calendar

Bengaluru: Quite often in international cricket, we keep hearing ‘workload management’. Given the amount of cricket the internationals play, especially those who feature in all three formats, workload management is an absolute must to ensure longevity of players. Such has been the emphasis on supervising one’s workload in modern-day cricket that team managements don’t think twice to rest an in-form player even if a series is on the line. If the medical parameters say a bowler has to rest so that his body doesn’t break down, then he/she is sent on break no matter what the scoreline is. Science just takes precedence.

We saw it in the case of Jasprit Bumrah in the recently-concluded India-England Test series where the pacer was rested for the fourth Test with India leading 2-1 and a chance to seal the series given the red-hot form he was in. The merits of this particular decision are debatable but it is what it is.   

This luxury, however, isn’t enjoyed by hundreds of cricketers who play on the domestic circuit with an aspiration to break into the senior national side. Let’s take this Ranji Trophy which kicked on January 3 and concluded on March 14. For Mumbai and Vidarbha, the two teams that clashed in the final won by the former for a record-extending 42nd time, it was a 10th match in 72 days.

Considering all matches went to the last day (7 group games and three knockouts), it’s 43 days of cricket in 72 days with just a three-day gap between games. Out of the three, one day goes in travel, and if teams are flying long distances with no direct flight connectivity, then it’s all the more gruelling. There’s hardly any time to even catch a breath, let alone time for niggles to heal.   

Many players and coaches, for fear of falling foul of authority, only spoke in hushed tones about the mentally and physically exhausting schedule. But Mumbai’s Shardul Thakur and Tamil Nadu’s R Sai Kishore raised concerns, hoping their voices would be heard and a course correction is done for next season. 

“It’s difficult because we are playing first-class games after three days’ gap — that has never happened in Ranji Trophy season ever,” said Thakur. “You know the schedule is becoming tighter and tighter. If boys keep playing like this for two more seasons, there will be a lot of injuries across the country.

“I remember playing Ranji Trophy back in the days, good 7-8 years back, when the first three games used to have a three-day break and then it was a four-day break and knockouts were played on five-day breaks. It is extremely tough on domestic players to expect them to play 10 games in a row with just a three days’ gap if a team makes it to the finals. Next year, they (the BCCI) have to re-look at it and give more break.”

What Thakur was talking about was only the Ranji Trophy. Now, let’s just take a look at the entire domestic season which started last June with the Duleep Trophy and climaxed with the Ranji Trophy a few days ago. The dates for the Irani Cup, to be played by Ranji champions and the Rest of India side, are yet to be announced. Add Prof Deodhar Trophy, Syed Mushtaq Ali, Vijay Hazare and the India A games, the total number of games at the senior level for men across all teams crosses 1000.

Let’s not forget the IPL, the tournament which literally every player in the country wants to be a part of, that kicks off on March 22. Although the dates for the second leg are yet to be announced, the tournament will mostly conclude by middle of May to give ICC T20 World Cup-bound players around a fortnight to recharge their batteries for the marquee event. The sheer number of matches for players who are top performers for their respective states and are in the pool of India probables, is immense.      

While the BCCI definitely deserves credit for meticulously organising all the tournaments, thereby ensuring players from every nook and corner of the country get as many opportunities, it also begs a question should some events be struck off the calendar given how hectic it has become even for domestic cricketers? Some of those who may not have the option of ‘resting’ themselves to ensure they don’t fall back in the pecking order given the competition for spots. 

“The Ranji Trophy is a long season, and if you add a Duleep and a Deodhar to that…if I’m not mistaken, the Duleep started in June, a month after the IPL,” India head coach Rahul Dravid said after the conclusion of the India-England Test series in Dharamsala. “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. So, it can get quite tough on a lot of those boys. 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 if they are not necessary. There needs to be an all-round review involving coaches and players.”

Former chief selector Sunil Joshi agreed his State and India team-mate’s concern but felt a solution can be found without axing the tournaments. “I feel the calendar was punishing last season primarily because India hosted the ICC ODI World Cup which took a chunk of the dates. So things had to revolve around it. For many cricketers in the national reckoning, tournaments like Duleep and Deodhar are very important. So knocking it off could be robbing them of an opportunity. My suggestion would be to kick off the season in October with the Ranji Trophy group games, then have the Syed Mushtaq Ali before the IPL auctions, play the Vijay Hazare Trophy and then wrap the season with Ranji knockouts. That way things are spaced out.”

“Yes, just three-day gap between Ranji matches is absolutely brutal. Not very long ago, each team would get a week’s break after the group phase. Now, that also didn’t happen. So, if we can increase the gap between matches and ensure teams qualifying for knockouts get a fortnight to recharge their batteries, it’ll help all.”

Another former chief selector MSK Prasad too felt chopping tournaments isn’t prudent. “Tournaments like Duleep, Irani or Deodhar are extremely important for players who are ambitious about playing for the country. Not just India but they serve as platform for players to graduate to India A also. The onus should always be on providing more opportunities for players and not reducing them.

“Yes, the calendar is extremely stretched, but if a thorough brainstorming is done with all the stakeholders, I’m sure a template can be formed. BCCI is a case study for several cricketing countries on how to conduct matches. In fact, many of them are mystified on how the Board does it every year. It’s not 100 or 200 but over 2000 matches.”

Indeed, the volume of the matches across all age-groups is simply mind-boggling. While it’s more the merrier, domestic cricketers too deserve workload management through longer gaps between matches. In the whole Ishan Kishan-Shreyas Iyer episode, the Board has rightly sent a message to players that domestic cricket is sacrosanct. It just needs to draw a less hectic schedule to ensure there are no untimely burn-outs or a break-downs.