By IANS
Melbourne : Sachin Tendulkar has reiterated that cricketers must have enough rest in between the series to ward off early burnout.
The legendary batsman Saturday pleaded with cricket authorities to schedule international cricket in such a way that the players enjoy playing the game as well as spend time with their families.
Tendulkar, who is on his final tour of Australia, said the workload of international players was too much and they need time to recharge their batteries between the series, and also to iron out flaws in their game.
Tendulkar, however, is not sure if the administrators would heed his advice as they are scheduling more cricket than ever before what with the Twenty20 game joining the other two forms of the game.
“We can have more cricket, but it’s equally important to have a little more gap in between the tours,” Tendulkar said.
“Players must get some time to rewind themselves and also spend time with their families. But the international calendar is very tight so there’s not much time to go back home and assess things. But that is how the calendar is and there little one can do about it. We just have to get on with it.”
India could not arrive in Australia any earlier than this week as they had a tight schedule, which included the inaugural Twenty20 championship.
This year the Indian players have been constantly playing, and their only rest came in April, following an early elimination from the World Cup in the Caribbean.
In May, they played one-dayers and Tests in Bangladesh, and then in June played South Africa in one-dayers in Ireland and began a tour of England.Since touring England, India won the Twenty20 championship in South Africa, which delayed subsequent one-day series against Australia and Pakistan, plus three Tests against their arch-rivals.
The packed schedule meant India played three five-day Tests against Pakistan over three weeks, which gave them room for only one (washed-out) tour match in Australia, before the first of four Tests starts on Boxing Day at the MCG.
As soon as India’s Australia tour ends, they will be preparing for the inaugural Twenty20 Indian Premier League, which is scheduled to start in April.