Where did ‘burnout’ go?

England’s Ben Stokes acknowledges the applause as he leaves the field after being dismissed in his final ODI against SA recently. Pic/Getty Images

About 15 years back, when the international cricket schedule was being debated, the word that was commonly heard was ‘burnout'. Player burnout was a hot topic then and the players' body then of about six out of the 10 Test match playing countries was going to town about it.

Then, the IPL happened and suddenly the word burnout was forgotten and all those well meaning people at the players' organisation understood that it was better to keep quiet than risk the ire of their members by bringing up the burnout issue.

Most players were delighted to be earning the kind of money in six weeks of the IPL that they would barely get by playing five or more years for their countries. They also realised that the T20 format was such that, while the pressure could be intense, the load on the body would not be as great as in a Test match or a 50 overs-a-side game. So not only did the IPL flourish, it also spawned copy cat editions in just about every other country all of whom, tried to call their leagues by some fancy name even as they struggled to get the same response simply because the officials couldn't bear to loosen the purse strings or let private players come in to take the game to the masses.

Today, the word burnout is replaced by the word ‘workload.' While the burnout word was used then by the players' body officials, the workload word is bring used mainly by the support staff of the teams.

Physios calling the shots now

In effect, the physiotherapists today are the ones dropping players and not the selectors. It is the physio's recommendation that the selectors are listening to when they select the squads for their countries.

If a big player doesn't want to play a game or two, all he has to do is to tell the physio that he has a niggle somewhere and the physio, knowing his job is on the line, is likely to report to the selectors that the player needs rest to recover.

The physio decides what the workload should be. So he will decide that a fast bowler will bowl only 20 deliveries in the nets when in a T20 game he has to bowl a minimum of 24 apart from the wides and no-balls.

No wonder you find many bowlers struggling to bowl the final over because their bodies are simply not used to bowling 24 deliveries in the match.

The charismatic Ben Stokes has called it quits in one-day internationals citing the workload factor. A totally committed player like him, who gives everything to every delivery when he is out on the field, was always going to be more exhausted than any other player. The effort he puts for any team that he represents is phenomenal because he doesn't believe in being second best, but wants to be the best.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic many of the tours that didn't take place in the last couple of years are being crammed in the international schedule now and this has definitely put a strain on the players. Once the lag over the past 24 months is made up for then perhaps the schedule will become a bit easier, at least that's what the hope is.

No break due to leagues

But with more T20 leagues coming up, the players may not get the break that they are looking for. That's where it will be interesting to see what their preference would be. Would it be to skip the T20 leagues or would it be to skip playing for your country?

If one goes by what Stokes has done, the writing is clearly on the wall and the game's administrators won't need spectacles to read it.

Professional Management Group