Dhoni wants pacemen protected at home

2015 World Cup

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is of the opinion that domestic cricket takes too much out of his fast bowlers, with demands on their bodies too high and leading to injuries and burn-out.

Speaking after his side's exit from the World Cup in the semi-finals, the skipper felt Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and others would be better served by playing less domestic cricket, and being allowed to rest during the international break.

India's bowling was poor for much of their tour to Australia, though in the World Cup the likes of Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami were quite excellent. Dhoni wants them to be able to have a break from the game without state sides getting grumpy.

Dhoni opined: "This is a problem that we have had for quite some time now in our set-up. Once a fast bowler completes his international assignment he is then asked by his local state associations to come and bowl in domestic cricket.

"However, there are no checks and balances on the number of overs they are being asked to bowl.

"If the fast bowler refuses to play domestic matches, then the local association gets annoyed and would grumble that, 'Now that you are playing for India means that you won't play for us.' So problems are there.

"If we want to look at the interests of Indian cricket, we have to monitor the progress of fast bowlers as to how many overs they are sending down and what's the amount of workload they are taking.

"At the same time, our bowlers shouldn't play too many matches in Indian domestic cricket. They should play on and off."

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