MUMBAI: Just how much is too much in the active schedule of a professional sportsperson? Does he or she ever have to crib even if the money is good?
The answer will vary from individuals. The least fussy are the top international tennis players and probably ever more so are our cricketers, especially of the present era in which the bounty is fabulous.
On so many occasions, the leading players have complained of far too much international cricket. They want to make the most of their lucrative contracts which stipulate the period but not the number of matches they ought to play. That is so because the number of matches they play depends on their being selected. The moment a leading player is dropped for want of form or fitness, he turns to the media to highlight what he calls “a grave injustice.” These topnotchers want to take their places in the Indian team for granted.
With the number of talented young players waiting to grab a place in the team with their outstanding performances, the seniors are now getting somewhat wary of even suggesting that they are overworked and need rest. It is only someone with as big an image as Sachin Tendulkar who can pick and choose matches he wants to play. His case is genuine because he cries off only on account of injuries.
Now, when someone like Mahendra Singh Dhoni, as efficient a busybody as any to emerge in Indian cricket in the last three years, complains of staleness because of excessive cricket and heartless scheduling of matches, then it is something for the authorities to sit up and think.
Dhoni was allowed to sit out only two matches that India has played in the last 20 months and that too because of thumb injury on his right hand.
He is the Indian player with the highest number of appearances during that period. The non-stop cricket, especially back-to-back matches in the Asia Cup in the heat of Karachi, appears to have taken a heavy toll of his energy.
He has not only batted for long on each occasion, but also kept wickets. He has now been rested for the forthcoming Test series in Sri Lanka. There is only one solution to giving our cricketers a worthwhile break and that is to adopt a rotation policy in team selection. Such a system, where player is deliberately rested for a match in the midst of a heavy schedule, also gives a younger player the chance to make the playing eleven. But for reasons best known to some of the leading players, this rotation policy is unacceptable.
The lurking fear that the success of a youngster may eventually deprive them of a place in the team, may be at the back of their frowning on the rotation policy.
It is a clear case of top players, with so many lucrative endorsement contracts under their belt, wanting to have the cake and eat it too.
