IND vs ENG: "I think there's some need to look at it" - Rahul Dravid on India's long domestic season

Team India men’s head coach Rahul Dravid has asked for an “all-round review” of the country’s long domestic season after R Sai Kishore and Shardul Thakur opened up on the schedule recently.

While speaking after the Ranji Trophy semi-final in Mumbai, Shardul Thakur had said how it was “extremely tough on domestic players to play 10 games in a row with just a three-day gap” and how the BCCI should “re-look at it and give longer breaks”. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu captain Sai Kishore had also said how shorter gaps between games are affecting the pace bowlers and how the spinners were doing minimal pre-match training to keep up with the relentless stream of matches as well.

Team India registered 4-1 Test series win

On the other hand, Rahul Dravid, while speaking after India registered a 4-1 series win over England in Dharamsala, opined on the issue and felt it was “important” to listen to the players who put in the hard yards as well.

“I’ve heard the same as well. I saw some of the comments Shardul, I think, made. And in fact some of the boys who’ve come into the team as well, also 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,” Dravid said.

ALSO READ: Zaheer Khan shares MS Dhoni’s plans after IPL 2024

“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,” he further added.

Rahul Dravid also acknowledged how “tough” the season can be for domestic players and they wanted a relook at whether some of the tournaments are “necessary in this day and age”.

“It’s a long season already in India. It’s tough” – Rahul Dravid

“It’s a long season already in India. It’s tough,” Rahul Dravid said. “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 semi-finals 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, and so it can get quite tough on a lot of those boys, and maybe we need to hear them out.

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, especially the guys who are part of the domestic circuit,” he concluded.