What do you think about retirement of AB De

Villiers from international cricket?

The decision of AB De villers to call it a day, with just a year left to the “Cricket World Cup 2019” should
raise our eyebrows most importantly our cricket administrators. His statement that he ‘ran out of gas’
should ring a siren with the selectors, cricket team support staff and the administrators who plan the
future tours programme (FTP).

Let us look at the dramatic change in his outlook towards the world cup within an year

AB De villers after the loss to India in a must win quarter-final clash on being asked about his captaincy
and his team’s prospects for the World cup 2019 responds,

"I can take this team forward. I can take us to win a World Cup, I believe. And I believed the
same thing over here in this tournament and the last one, that's what I believe. I love doing it."

"I must be very honest with you. Not a lot of people believe me but I feel it is pretty close (World
Cup triumph). I don't think it feels far away. It is very difficult to say that after a performance
like this, but that's what I believe in my heart.”

AB De villers in a media interaction during the IPL 2018 on World cup 2019,

I’m taking it one game at a time for now. Right now, I want to do well for Royal Challengers. To win the
World Cup is not my ultimate dream. I’ve changed my mindset with that. If we win it, it’ll be a bonus.
But if we don’t, it won’t define my career.

This radical shift in attitude from somebody like De villers who is well known for his ‘Never-die
spirit’ should be taken stock of and calls for proper management of ever increasing workload
in this era.

Ever since the inception of IPL, the off-season window available with the players has diminished
to the tune of days which used to be in terms of weeks and months prior to IPL Refer Fig.
Naturally, a player who plays for all the formats in his national team plus the IPL year after year
is bound to get fatigue both mentally and physically.
The recent neck injury to Virat Kohli leading to his unavailability for the county stint is a case in
point. Virat has been playing non-stop cricket across all the formats plus the IPL for years. He
also captains both his national side and the IPL team. The fitness levels that he maintains to be
his best for each game that he represents either for his national side or IPL team is second to
none. The responsibility with which he bats during the course of an innings across the formats
milking singles and doubles with minimal or measured risks is not everybody’s cup of tea. Given
the amount of cricket that he plays and more so with the intensity that he plays should naturally
take a toll on his body both physically and mentally.

De villers who also plays across all the formats plus the IPL is the first major scalp of the current
system that shows scant respect for players rest period and which seems to be keen on shoring
up the revenue. The situation is pretty much like a circus company employing humans and
animals and exploiting their skills to make money.

So, the moot point is ‘Who’s to be blamed for the premature retirement’ ? In my view, it is the
system that has failed the cricketer. The potential burnout could have been avoided had
the selectors, support staff and administrators foreseen the workload and took necessary
actions. The picking and choosing of series and format during the course of 2016-17 by De villers
himself was a step in this regard by himself to stay fresh and extend his career but
understandably drew a lot of criticism. It did also pan out well with two back to back marquee
test series wins against India and Australia and De Villers playing a stellar role in both of them
stamping his class once again. Few of his innings in IPL 2018 edition single handedly won
matches. Nobody in their wildest of dreams would have had inkling about this decision
particularly with the fitness levels in display and the superhuman batting skills that is yet to fade
out.

In this era of specialized men for the respective format, there are a bunch of players viz. the fab
four (Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Kane Williamson and Steve Smith), Mitchell Starc, Ben Stokes,
Bhuveneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, FAF Du Plessis, Quinton De Kock etc. who excel across
the formats and are undoubtedly in the playing XI when available. Most of these players also
participate in IPL, meaning they are left with a very little off-season. BCCI to some extent has
taken the lead in this regard. Bhuvneshwar’s workload was closely monitored during the IPL
and was in fact given breaks (by skipping few unimportant matches) to address the burnout
problem. Thus, it is imperative to take stock of such all-format players workload to enable
them to extend their careers for the good of their nation and themselves.

Few suggestions to manage the workload of cricketers especially the all-format players are,

 Drafting of FTP: Future Tours Programme (FTP) should be very carefully drafted.
Administrators should also take into account the negative effect of excessive workload
which surely stacks up their revenues by drawing more and more people to watch their
favorite players. But what if their favorite player gets injured by playing non-stop cricket.
Administrators should also seek opinion from the support staff who closely observe the
players and their vulnerabilities. Ample rest period should be given. Off-season should
be a tad longer.

 Limit on Bilateral matches: There should be a check on the number of meaningless

bilateral ODI and T20 series that a team plays. Rather, more and more triangular and
quadrangular series should be introduced which will not only significantly reduce the
number of matches but also make the ODI and T2o series more interesting thereby
bringing the extra competitive edge that gets added on with additional teams. A
champions trophy or an Asia cup involving multiple teams is what draws more crowd
and TV viewers not the monotonous bilateral series.

 Eye on Club cricket participation and strict vigil on the matches played: No doubt, club
cricket is one platform where one can make huge fortunes with a very little commitment
period but caution should be exercised by both the concerned player and the cricketing
body. Players with vulnerable injuries should think twice about their participation.
Mitchell Starc missing back to back IPL editions of 2017 and 2018 is a case in point.