NEW DELHI, June 29: Coming down hard on Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s outburst that his team has been overworked, the Indian board has strongly reacted by saying that the Indian Premier League (IPL) was more hectic than the Asia Cup.

Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) vice-president Rajiv Shukla said that a player must inform the board if he is fatigued and needs rest. “If a player wants rest, he can inform the board and we will send a replacement.

Even IPL has back to back matches and was very hectic, but everybody played.

“The schedule of the Asia Cup was known well in advance and in case of Sachin Tendulkar, he informed us well in advance that he will not be able to feature in the tournament. This was the reason why he was not picked,” Shukla was quoted as saying by a private news channel, Times Now.

Too much cricket has been a raging debate in Indian cricket for a while now and the excess workload has already taken its toll with many Indian players featuring on the wounded list. As many as four top cricketers are currently missing from action due to injuries.

Sachin Tendulkar, who was ruled out of the Asia Cup due to groin injury, picked up the injury during the tour to Australia and thus he missed the first half of the IPL. Next on the list Sreesanth, who was also ruled out of the Bangladesh tri-series and the Asia Cup due to a shoulder injury. His bowling partner Zaheer Khan too got injured during the IPL and is still recovering from an ankle injury.

Finally, Irfan Pathan who played in the Bangladesh tri-series has missed the first three games in the Asia Cup due to a side strain.

Earlier, Indian ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Saturday lambasted the gruelling schedule of the Asia Cup after his side swamped Bangladesh by seven wickets to record their third successive win in the competition. “We have spent 36 hours playing cricket out of the 84 hours we have been in Karachi. It is too tight. I am not happy with the schedule. Two teams have to play back to back matches while two have got a day off,” he said at the post match press conference.

Dhoni said his players were really tired after the matches and he was happy they would now get a couple of days off. “It was tough out there for us. But I am happy we have kept going. Suresh Raina, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag have batted really well in the tournament and I hope they keep on doing the same,” he said.—Agencies