Too many matches challenge Indian cricket, says BCCI secretary Saikia

BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said the board is working on a better Future Tours Programme to address the challenge of a packed cricket calendar. He said players would be given adequate rest, acclimatisation and practice matches before major SENA series

Mumbai: BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia on Thursday said the board would work towards ensuring proper rest, acclimatisation and practice matches for Indian cricketers ahead of major series in SENA countries.

Following a review meeting at the BCCI headquarters, Saikia said there was no lack of communication within Indian cricket as far as injury management was concerned, but the board would try to ensure a better Future Tours Programme (FTP) to give players ample time to prepare.

---

“Everybody is on the same page. BCCI is working very well, like a well-oiled engine,” Saikia told reporters.

“There is proper coordination amongst all the wings of BCCI, whether it is women’s team committees or their technical staff or their coaches, vis-a-vis the COE, vis-a-vis the Indian men’s team’s coaching staff and the head coach. There is no difficulty in the coordination, everything is moving in the right direction.”

“The only challenge which we are facing is that there are too many matches in the year and that is why in the next FTP we will do certain things, we will take certain measures.

“We have instructed our FTP persons who will be meeting very soon in various international forums that our FTP should be such that it is scheduled in a way that there is proper rest for the players as well as some kind of acclimatisation or some kind of friendly matches before any major series in SENA countries (South Africa, Australia, England and New Zealand),” Saikia added.

The review meeting was attended by India Test and ODI skipper Shubman Gill, T20I skipper Shreyas Iyer, head coach Gautam Gambhir, director of cricket at the COE VVS Laxman, along with officials of the Indian cricket board.

“We discussed how our team performed in England and Ireland and also we are thinking about what we are going to do about the next one year. The road map has been prepared and we will be doing some exercises so that we have a very good performance in 2027 World Cup,” Saikia added.