Gaji
Chennai: Never the one to hash words when it comes speaking his mind, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni criticized the excited cricket schedule, saying the heaving calendar this year will drain the players both physically and mentally.
"It does change the performance of players. The physical feature you can battle but because of the amount of cricket (you play) at times you find yourself spiritually and sensitively quite exhausted," Dhoni told a press conference here when asked about the crammed schedule ahead this year.
Less than a week after the end of the World Cup that lasted over 40 days, IPL-IV kicks-off on Friday and will last 50 days. Indian players will play series next to West Indies, England and Australia later in the year.
"After the IPL, India play West Indies series, we then go directly to England, we come back; if we qualify (in the IPL) you play in the Champions League. Then there is another couple of tournament previous to you move to Australia, so it's quite a hectic list ahead of us," Dhoni said.
"Even if the difficult schedule may not affect all the players, it will affect quite a few players who have been part of the entire cricket we have played for about the past six months," he added.
Dhoni has just before the World Cup spoken against the busy schedule, saying that this has made the players physically and mentally tired. That led to angry reaction from the BCCI who said that players are allowable to take rest whenever they feel tired.
The Chennai Super Kings skipper was in the city to kick start CSK's latest IPL season. CSK won the event last year and also the Champions League Twenty20.
