Pawar plays down burn-out issue, says BCCI following ICC norm

New Delhi, May 5 (UNI) Often accused of flogging its cricketers, BCCI today washed its hands off the players' burn-out issue and Board President Sharad Pawar said India was merely following the ICC norms.

Talking to reporters here today, Mr Pawar played down the issue and said India had no role in the alleged overkill of cricket.

''I have been reading about too much of cricket but whatever we are doing is according to the International Cricket Council (ICC) norms,'' he said.

''According to that, we are to play 30 ODIs and 15 Test matches in 105 out of 365 days and we are not going beyond that. We are well within the upper ceiling,'' added the chief of world's richest cricket body.

Mr Pawar, however, admitted that the calendar was really hectic for the cricketers but he blamed it on weather.

''You can't play in the monsoon and then it's very difficult to play in the summer. That leaves us with little time to accommodate all the matches,'' he said.

His colleague in the board IS Bindra also refuted reports that BCCI was accommodating more and more offshore matches in its already crammed calendar.

''I have read that even a former Test player has come out with claims that India is going to play 25 offhore matches next year. This is completely misleading. BCCI is planning those matches over a period of five years and not in one year,'' he clarified.

Among Indian players, Sachin Tendulkar has already sought a balance between players' interest and board's committment while Aussie speedster Brett Lee said too much of cricket has left him without petrol and he was running on fumes only.

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