Indian all-rounder Shardul Thakur has expressed his opinion on the growing trend of international cricket players in India avoiding domestic cricket commitments. The BCCI recently took a stern stance, issuing a warning to players who neglect Ranji Trophy matches for their domestic squads. Indian selectors excluded Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from the BCCI's roster of Annual Player Contracts.

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Shardul Thakur on tight domestic cricket schedule

Shardul Thakur addressed the mounting pressure on players due to the tighter match schedules. Thakur highlighted the challenge of adapting to the compressed turnaround time between knockout matches, now reduced to just three days, a departure from previous norms.

“It's difficult because we are playing first-class games in (a) three days' gap — that has never happened in Ranji Trophy season ever,” Thakur told the media here after making a fine century in the semifinal against Tamil Nadu.

“You know the schedule is becoming tighter and tighter. If boys keep playing like this for two more seasons, there will be lot of injuries across the country.

“Next year, they (the BCCI) have to re-look at it and give more break,” he added.

A few years ago, Thakur noted, players had more days between matches in the Ranji Trophy compared to the current scenario. The BCCI has condensed the domestic schedule to accommodate a multitude of tournaments for men's and women's cricket spanning various age groups. Approximately 70-80 days are allocated for events like the IPL and WPL, resulting in the need for such compression.

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“When I remember playing Ranji Trophy back in the days, good 7-8 years back, (the) first three games used to have (a) three-day break and then it was (a) four-day break and knockouts were played on five-day breaks.

“Now this year, we have seen that all the games have been played on (a) three-day gap. It is extremely tough on domestic players to expect them to play ten games in a row with just (a) three-days gap if (a) team makes it to the finals.

“Also, when nine teams were in the group, one team would get a break in (the) round-robin system. Now only eight teams being in one group, everyone plays each other, so that break has gone now,” Thakur added.

(With PTI inputs)