Kohli cries foul of cramped schedule

Nagpur: Indian captain Virat Kohli on Thursday complained that cramped schedules are getting in the way of proper preparation for big series such as the upcoming tour of South Africa, a criticism that the BCCI promised to address with "utmost seriousness".

Speaking at the pre-match press conference ahead of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Nagpur tomorrow, Kohli said he was left with no choice but to seek bouncy tracks in the ongoing series as there was hardly any time in the schedule to prepare for the trip to South Africa.

India would be leaving for South Africa for a series of three Tests, six ODIs and three Twenty20 Internationals, just a couple of days after the home series against Sri Lanka gets over on December 24. "...unfortunately we get only two days before we fly to South Africa after this series gets over.

So we have no choice but try to be in a game situation and think of what's coming ahead of us. "Had we got a month off ideally, we would have done a proper preparation in a camp sort of scenario but we have to sort of make do with what we have."

The Indian team will finish their limited overs engagement against Sri Lanka on December 24 (final T20) before they fly off to South Africa on December 27. Acting BCCI president CK Khanna said the board needs to seriously assess Kohli's view .

"Virat is the Indian captain and his view point 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.

Kohli stressed on the necessity to space out series as at times, the team needs to do its preparation differently for a bigger series. "As usual cramped for time, which I think we needed to assess in future as well because we very easily assess the team when go abroad but we don't look at how many days we have got to prepare before we go to a particular place to play," the skipper said ahead of the second Test against Sri Lanka, starting here tomorrow.

Indian cricketers have been playing non-stop cricket since start of the IPL. The IPL was followed by ICC Champions Trophy, away tours of 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).

"...everyone starts judging players when results come after Test matches. It should be a fair game, where we get to prepare the way we want to and then we are entitled to be criticised," Kohli stressed. Khanna said trhe BCCI needs to take a call on the spacing of matches while scheduling 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. It will be great if this can also be included in the agenda for the December 9, Special General Meeting," Khanna said.

By Kushan Sarkar