Better to burnout than to play away? Try a traffic jam.

England Cricket / Paul Moon / 14 July 2008 / 2

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Paul Moon is sickened by Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's decision to pull out of the tour of Sri Lanka.

I refuse to accept the terms fatigue and burnout in cricket. It does not exist. It is a cynical lie created by cricket fatcats and the leading players' associations who nurse feed them.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (27) is claiming he needs a break from playing for India and has pulled out of their tour of Sri Lanka claiming fatigue. Once again I am extremely irritated to learn that another very rich and pampered cricketer is claiming fatigue.

I was left with nausea when reading the most sickening statement from the Board of Control for Cricket in India: "We respect his decision. It shows maturity." Ye Gods! Will someone please explain this sycophantic twaddle - how is that mature?

Let's get one thing straight. Tiredness is not playing cricket. Tiredness is shift work, getting up at 6am, spending hours to and from work, traffic jams, British transport, working 10-hour days for a boss who does not care if you live or die.

Tiredness is a mortgage, getting home too tired to speak to your wife and children, struggling to pay the utility bills, slipping further into debt every month. Saving up all year for a holiday only to find it raining. All this for £15,000 per year. That is tiredness. (Obviously things are tougher in India so I was speaking relatively).

Let's do some maths. Since January 2007 the supremely fit Dhoni has played 14 Tests, 56 one-day internationals and nine Twenty20 matches across the world as well as the IPL. That represents 134 days of cricket in 560 days. Nearly half of that time is spent in the pavilion reading his fan mail, so net 67 days in a year and a half.

We will forget about bad light, rain, early finishes, the shortness of Twenty/20 that means he has worked 402 hours in a year and a half - averaging 5.025 hours per week. Where is the reality?

But there's more. He lives a millionaire lifestyle, does not have to cook a meal or even iron a shirt. Absolutely everything is done for him and I mean everything. This cosseted icon lives life in a stratosphere above his common man. He cannot possibly be tired! Poor Fred Trueman must be turning in his grave.

Some people would feebly say he has to carry extra burdens such as wicket-keeping and the captaincy. The honour and privilege of being captain of your country cannot be measured and renders the word 'burden' useless. If that does not energise you, nothing will. If selected to play for England I would crawl to the ground over hot coal, play for nothing - no I would pay them - then crawl home again proud to have been given the opportunity.

Yes, of course fast bowlers can have their edge taken off them in back to back Test matches, especially if they have toiled in the heat and on a batting friendly track. But in these indulgent days of diet, physio, treatment, sauna, massage, and general all round fitness paraphernalia those words stick in my craw.

It is a joke to hear Kevin Pietersen complaining of fatigue due to international commitments. The hypocrite cannot wait to play in the cash laden IPL. We had cry-baby Steve Harmison bleating about being a robot when he bowled the equivalent of 9 overs per week since 2002. This is what I had to say about it a few months ago.

The real problem in cricket is scheduling and having a squad of players good enough. You need to get that balance right and you must manage your quickies. At the moment Australia are suffering post Shane Warne. Brett Lee has taken on an absurd workload for a fast bowler but that is the captain's decision.

It must be understood that mental and emotional exhaustion is not the same thing as burnout. Marcus Trescothick and now Shaun Tait have suffered something much different. There is a callous segment within cricket that would like to merge and confuse the two. It is nonsense; it was not the non-stop cricket calendar that claimed them.

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Richie Cunningham | 16 July 2008

What is the Matter with Sportsmen of today. They claim to be overworked, tired and Claim Fatique .
What they are in reality is overpaid ,overhyped spoilt brats .
In the case of Mahendra Singh Dhoni I Blame India's B.O.C who has given in to his whims.
He is only 27 years old and should be in the prime of his sporting career. Cricket is a seasonal game and he has all the rest of the year to do whatever he likes .If he cannot get pumped up for a competition he should not be considered again until his attitude changes .He will regret not playing games when he could have when he reaches his forties when it will be all too late .
shrey | 23 July 2008

hats off to you... great speech, superb comparison and a real worthy calculation showing the complete statistical analysis.... but i ask you where is the actual reason... how about analysing something without any result... well let me complete your story... its really nice and i am not teasing it... just completing the whole ... you know wat Mr. Dhoni cant play with experience as it hints he is unable to superiorise himself and is far more like a kid showing more knowledge then wat his dad has.actually youth is important but moreover experience is necessary... wat if Mr.Captain tomorrow says he is experienced and much of a necessity in the Indian Cricket campaign... will he fold his past in a lie bag.Well Well Mr. captain, you r trying to be a showoff, rather than a real cricketer... when you entered cricket you hammered a great knock of 186, but then thereafter.... Mr.captain not a single knock was presentable... all slow boring innings.. where is your youth gone into? winning a t20 world cup is of no importance as its more important to be a man in a test as well as one day series, which you need to learn from real cricketers like dravid, sachin and saurav.You should consider yourself lucky to be their team mate rather then boosting yourself as a captain of yougistan... written by a guy of 24.