BCCI needs to look within: India, with some tired players in ranks, not going to gain anything from Afghanistan T20Is

The other big teams in the world don’t play Afghanistan as frequently. Seven matches in little over three months don’t make any sense.

Recently, India legend Sunil Gavaskar took the ICC to task for not thinking about Indian cricketers who play cricket almost all year round, tired and running the risk of injuries. Very good observation when he said that Indian cricketers are not machines or sugarcane to squeeze every drop of juice out of. But Mr Gavaskar should not have just slammed the ICC; he should have thrown the Board of Control for Cricket in India into the discussion, too. The BCCI is the most powerful cricket board in the world, and surely it can have its way with the global body as it has many times in the past. The truth of the matter is that the BCCI itself is not serious about making the lives of Indian cricketers easy. The Duleep Trophy example is going to prove it.

As far as new T20I captain Shreyas Iyer is concerned, he must be looking forward to this series after defeats in Ireland and England and win in Zimbabwe. (PTI)

Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma, part of the three-game T20I squad against Afghanistan – with the series starting today in New Delhi -- just less than 72 hours before, were busy playing in the Duleep Trophy final in the hot conditions of Chennai. Kishan (270 and 80) and Varma (99) spent a lot of time batting out there in the middle. It was worse for Varma, who, as South Zone captain, had to field a lot as eventual winners East Zone batted for a very large part of the match. Ideally, they should have been given a break for the Afghanistan series. But no, they will play. Whether it’s the players’ call or the BCCI’s, they deserve a break after such a demanding final. India are not going to gain anything from the Afghanistan series anyway. They are going to win all matches, make no mistake. But even if, say, there is an upset in one of the matches, it doesn't matter whatsoever.

In recent years, India A cricket matches have become important too. In June, India A toured Sri Lanka for a one-day tri-series. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Varma were part of that team. Later that month, a two-match four-day series also kicked off in Sri Lanka. Devdutt Padikkal, Sai Sudharsan, Dhruv Jurel and Gurnoor Brar featured in those games. On September 22, another two-game four-day series is going to kick off against Australia A in Puducherry. They will be followed by one-day games. Let’s also not forget that Mohammed Siraj and Padikkal were added to South Zone's Duleep Trophy final squad at the last minute.

And in the past one year, there have been many injuries. Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Sai Sudharsan, Hardik Pandya, Varun Chakaravarthy, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep and Shubman Gill are some of the names to have been injured. In a BCCI review meeting in Mumbai earlier this month, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia admitted that the players were playing too much cricket and picking up injuries as a result, and that the board was trying to come up with a solution. ICC must be spoken to for sure, but the board also needs to look within. Has it done enough to facilitate the well-being of Indian cricketers?

One final point to be made in the matter! Okay, you can play Afghanistan, no problem with that, but then you really don’t have to go in your main squad. But then, if you really think about it, the second string is also awfully busy playing cricket in various tournaments and leagues all over the country, so the board doesn’t have that option to exercise either. The domestic season has got underway anyway.

As you can see, it’s a very complex problem, and the BCCI really needs to sit down and think it through for any solid solutions. Admitting problems is one thing; fixing them is totally another.