Acting BCCI president acknowledges Virat Kohli's concern over series scheduling

The Indian captain has questioned the time-gap between two tours, which hampers India's preparations and can have an effect on performance.

Virat Kohli (IANS)

New Delhi: Acting BCCI president CK Khanna on Thursday said that the board needs to seriously assess skipper Virat Kohli's view on "cramped schedule" which has left India with precious little time to prepare for the away series against South Africa next month.

Khanna also wants the board members to take a call on having three back-to-back series in a short span of time.

"Virat is the Indian captain and his viewpoint on cricketing matters should be taken with utmost seriousness. We are proud how the team is performing but if players are feeling fatigued, we need to have a broader view on the issue,” Khanna told PTI.

The veteran administrator admitted that board needs to take a call during future home series.

"I think we should analyse if it is a good option to have three back-to-back series with hardly any break for the players. The matter should be taken up at an appropriate forum. It will be great if this can also be included in the agenda for the December 9 Special General Meeting,” Khanna said.

Indian cricketers have been playing non-stop cricket since the start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) this year, followed by the ICC Champions Trophy, away tours of the West Indies and Sri Lanka and three successive home series against Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka comprising 23 matches (3 Tests, 11 ODIs and 9 T20 Internationals).

The BCCI normally organises home series from October to December – a dedicated slot that they have demanded from the ICC going into the future.

Originally, the November-December slot was dedicated for home and away series against Pakistan every year until 2023 and accordingly the broadcasters and sponsors were convinced.

However, in the present scenario, the BCCI can’t play bilateral series with Pakistan leaving the two-month window wide open.

"The two series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka were replacement slots for the Pakistan series. Only the Australia series was in the Futures Tours and Programmes because as per our MoU with CA, the Test and limited-overs series will be separate tours when the two countries tour each other," a senior BCCI office-bearer told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

Sri Lanka has been with the BCCI on ICC policy issues. BCCI lost 2-8 during the ICC board meeting while opposing the change in governance structure. The only other vote that they got was from Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).

SLC has been through turbulent times and BCCI has time and again played against them to boost the revenue of the cash-strapped board. Even in March next year, India will be playing a tri-nation T20 tournament in Sri Lanka right after the South Africa series.

No wonder Kohli has raised the issue that authorities should "try and assess the issue".