SO you think 1,000 Test runs in 10 months makes Rahul Dravid the nation's number one bachelor? OK, he has the looks and the bucks. OK, he has the passport to stardom. But is that enough for the itinerant Indian cricketer when the visa for the next port of call is round the corner?
Examine the evidence. Three of Rahul's pals have taken the plunge since his debut: Venkatesh Prasad in the 10 days between the Sharjah Cup and the England tour; Nayan Mongia between the home and away South Africa series; Saurav Ganguly during a stopover between the Zimbabwe and West Indies tours.
Hey, what's a rushed marriage when they are minting millions, you might ask? Didn't they get to take their wives along? True. But it will be a mistake to think of cricketers as indentured labour. It's a mistake the Cricket Board has made in making them slog 334 out of the last 482 days.
But they are being adequately compensated, you might say; undeservingly so if you look at the results. Sure. But should we forget, like the Board (and the sponsors) have, that before they became stars and models—tigers at home, lambs abroad—cricketers are first and foremost, human beings?
So, forget Dravid basking in the warm afterglow of his success, forging a relationship and forming a full and rounded personality so essential to continued success at the international level. Even maintaining a relationship is frowned upon, as Mohammed Azharuddin has found out (see box).
Prasad was away every month of wife Jayanti's pregnancy and could catch a glimpse of his son 10 days after he was born only because he was allowed to skip the Bermuda detour. Dravid could be with his father Sharad during his heart surgery only when he was excused from the Zimbabwe leg after South Africa. Rumours that players' parents are beginning to seek a match for their sons with a horoscope in one hand and the BCCI schedule in the other are exaggerated. In any case, checking with the BCCI schedule may be of little use: the original schedule for 1997 didn't include the Independence Cup. Result: Pakistan has sent a second-string team and the Indians may just redeem themselves.
Obviously, there are two aspects to the cricket-overload and fatigue that seems to be reflected in performance as witnessed in the Caribbean. One is the Board's senseless scheduling of tours in an ICC-election year. For Jagmohan Dalmiya, secretary of the Board, it's a year vital for his aspirations to the post of ICC chairman. The other aspect is the handicaps involved in the team, and its composition.
It requires no genius to state that the players—as well as the viewers—would feel less fatigue if the team was on a roll. Sunil Gavaskar would then have no chance to comment on their "body language" live and in colour. But clearly, it's also too much to make Javagal Srinath bowl a full eight overs more per Test than any other contemporary fast bowler.
Starting with the 1996 World Cup, India have played the most Test matches (15) and stand second behind Pakistan (48 to 49) in the limited-overs game. If we qualify for the best-of-three Independence Cup finals and Pakistan don't, we will top them there, too.
True, the players aren't complaining. They aren't allowed to by the BCCI, or else. Besides, there's much money to be made in the game. One high-performer, in fact, denies there's overload: "Cricket is a test of endurance and we should train and prepare to play even back-to-back Tests," he says. "Our job is to play cricket, not complain. This is a great opportunity."
Admittedly, cricket is a less strenuous sport than, say, tennis or swimming. It is, as the players' favourite orthopaedic Dr Anant Joshi says, an intermittent activity that doesn't require all of them to burn their energies equally and simultaneously. One day off is essential weekly; 3-4 days off for every 2-3 weeks' work. But the issue, as the Mumbai-based doc will tell you, is not only of physical but mental fatigue as well. Sadly, the Board is blase about it, as its handling of the Azhar episode shows.
Dr Thomas Chandy of the Bangalore-based Hospital for Orthopaedics, Sports Medicine, Arthritis and Trauma says there must be a gap of two months between series, and a gap of 5-7 days between one-dayers and Tests respectively.
The human body, he explains, has to go through a 'warming-up' process before a match and a 'warming-down' process after. But this is not happening in the Indian team. Sachin and Co. arrived after the 70-day tour on May 12 and began padding up for the Independence Cup two days later. The Sri Lanka tour will begin soon after, and then the annual September jamboree, the Sahara Cup in Toronto.
It all goes in the name of broad basing the game. Six years ago, Indian cricketers went to the Supreme Court accusing the Board of interfering with their "right to work", by preventing them from playing exhibition, charity and benefit matches. Six years down the line, some of them must be contemplating the "right to rest".
On second thoughts, are they? Three years ago, their Test match fee, including percentage of the logo money, was Rs 45,000 (Rs 30,000 for a one-dayer). Three years down the line, it's Rs 120,000 and Rs 90,000 respectively. Pankaj Dharmani, who didn't play a single international in South Africa, made as much as Sachin and Azhar in tour fees—upwards of Rs 5 lakh.
For its part, the Board has turned silent on the registration issue that had been raging just three years ago. Although it has pillaged over Rs 400 lakh from the players' sweat and grime in the last 14 months, the Board doesn't want to put players on contract, pay them on the basis of seniority per season instead of per Test/one-dayer which would make it unnecessary for the likes of Srinath to play county cricket.
It won't pick a qualified orthopaedic and will make do with a physiotherapist; it won't pick a psychologist who could guide the players during long stretches away from home and from their near and dear ones; it won't pick a cook who will give the confirmed veggies no excuse for poor performance. Forget stuffing the selection panel with former cricketers to pick the right players. Begin with the Board. With Dalmiya graduating to the ICC, get someone who's held a bat or ball and who knows what it takes to do so 334 out of 482 days.
Dr Chandy will tell you that consulting sports medicine experts while scheduling a tour is the norm in the US as administrators do not want to risk their players developing orthopaedic problems. But, as Dr Anant Joshi says, in India everything sinks in late: "We would probably do so only after Sri Lanka and Pakistan move."
