Rahul Dravid was responding to a query on what the board can do to address concerns like the one raised by Shardul Thakur about just three-day gaps between Ranji Trophy matches leading to injuries and hampering player recovery. Thakur himself has been out of contention from the Indian Test team after the World Test Championship finals.
India head coach Rahul Dravid has said that BCCI needs to hear its players when it comes to planning the domestic cricket calendar. He was responding to a query on what the board can do to address concerns like the one raised by Shardul Thakur about just three-day gaps between Ranji Trophy matches leading to injuries and hampering player recovery.
Thakur termed the current schedule, where teams have had just three days between matches, as difficult with schedules getting tighter.
With the IPL window getting bigger, BCCI has had to force-fit all senior men’s competitions over a smaller window than usual.
“I’ve heard the same as well. I saw some of the comments Shardul [Thakur], I think, made and, in fact, some of the [new] boys who’ve come into the team [have said it] as well. Some comment about how tough the domestic schedule is, especially in a country like India with the amount of travel involved,” Dravid said at the post-match press conference.
“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,” Dravid added.
The senior men’s domestic calendar started in June last year, with the Duleep Trophy, the zonal first-class competition. The schedule has been relentless since the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the domestic T20 competition began in October.
The Ranji Trophy that started in January has had players criss-crossing India for games with just three-day breaks. Finalists Mumbai and Vidarbha, who play the final beginning Sunday, would have played 10 first-class matches in just over 10 weeks.
The BCCI has done away with the annual Captains & Coaches Conclave where multiple crucial topics, like umpiring, scheduling, format, DRS, match fees and central contracts used to be discussed. Since the resumption of domestic cricket post COVID-19, this practice of involving players and coaches has been discontinued.
Among other problems have been the unavailability of top players for their domestic teams due to the schedule clash with the India A calendar.
“The Ranji Trophy is a long season. 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,” Dravid said.