CHENNAI: Even though the BCCI and Committee of Administrators (CoA) have been talking about workload management of players during the IPL, they are yet to initiate talks with the franchises in this regard.
In fact, after a meeting in December, the franchises are yet to hear from the BCCI about any development on this. The IPL starts on March 23. On Monday, BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary revealed talks are on about managing the workload of players, keeping in the mind the World Cup soon after the IPL. While he mentioned they have not arrived at a decision yet, at least three franchises that this newspaper spoke to revealed that they have not heard anything about workload management.
“We have been reading reports about the BCCI’s workload management policy for the IPL. But the truth is, none of us have been kept in the loop over these developments. We have the tournament starting in less than 20 days, and if the BCCI indeed puts a plan in place, then we will be in a tight situation. Most of the teams have already started planning their combination factors,” a franchise official said.
While the absence of IPL Governing Council has contributed to this lack of communication, franchises also mentioned that there hasn’t been a single workshop in the lead-up to this season. “We had one on the evening before the IPL auctions. Even there, we were informed that in due course all doubts will be cleared. In that meeting, it was only the franchises that brought up the topic of workload after reading news reports. The BCCI didn’t initiate any such discussion,” the franchise official added.
What has also contributed to the confusion is that the Indian team management is yet to arrive at a definite decision. Something is expected after the Australia series when the physio submits a report on where each player stands in terms of niggles. While all the franchises are expected to be given a directive by the team management on how to manage the workload, resting key players is yet to be spoken about.
Meanwhile, since the timings of matches are yet to be finalised, the franchises have also not been able to release tickets. As reported by this newspaper, the broadcasters are understood to be pushing for a 7 or 7.30pm start instead of the usual 8 pm. But the CoA continues to ponder because an early start will also mean that the afternoon match has to be brought forward from 4 pm. Even half-an-hour is considered hard on the players, given that most of India will be under the spell of summer.
Sources indicated that the broadcasters and sponsors have called for afternoon matches to begin by 5 pm and are not overly concerned about the overlapping even if it eats into their revenues.