Dalmiya too slams schedule

A day after the International Cricket Council rejected the call of Test captains to reduce the number of Tests and one-dayers, Board of Control for Cricket in India president Jagmohan Dalmiya declared the schedule is indeed too tight and ICC's 10-year programme is making the situation difficult.

"I know the international schedule is too tight. Even the captains have voiced it during their interaction with ICC yesterday," Dalmiya said at a press conference in Kolkata on Tuesday.

The ICC, on Monday, turned down an appeal by Test captains to cut down the number of international fixtures in the next five years.

Dalmiya said the BCCI is aware of the problem faced by the players in this regard, but has no option other than going by the ICC schedule.

"Whatever it is, you have to fulfill commitments," he said.

The Indian team has a gruelling schedule in the run-up to the World Cup in South Africa in February-March next year.

Only two days after playing the fourth and final Test of the ongoing English tour, on September 9, the Indians have to leave for Sri Lanka for the ICC champions trophy.

Soon after that, the West Indies are scheduled to tour India, from October 1 to November 24, before the Indians embark on a 44-day trip to New Zealand, from December 3.

The team then leaves Indian shores on January 31 to play the World Cup.

"Definitely this schedule is no schedule. They (Indians) are not even getting 24 hours rest. They are just touching the country after a foreign assignment before again setting out on another overseas trip," he said.

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