Commercial sponsors and audiences overdose on cricket, to the detriment of players’ health and possibly the sport itself.

How much cricket is too much cricket? Well, more than two hundred and fifty days in a year has to be rather on the excessive side, hasn’t it?

But nobody seems to be complaining. Despite exposing themselves to those niggles in the back or sprains in the foot, most players are only too happy playing all year round for it lets them take home really big bucks.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) isn’t bothered either, since its already bloated purse gets filled with more and more moolah. And as for the spectators, without whom the sport could not have earned its national acclaim, they too do not seem to get enough of cricket."

But discordant voices are beginning to be raised against "too much cricket".

Not long ago, Sharad Yadav, senior opposition leader and Janata Dal member of the Lok Sabha, gave vent to his frustration at seeing the popularity of what he called "national diversion."

Yadav, an old-fashioned politician rooted in rural Indian traditions, railed against cricket and the growing commercialisation of the sport.

Ironically, he came to realise why millions of Indians stayed glued to their television sets whenever a match was being telecast live when his own young son surprised him by bunking work to go and see an international match in the swanky new stadium in the national capital.

Admittedly, Yadav, convener of the opposition National Democratic Alliance, might be unduly harsh on cricket; his views probably reflecting his youth when the only games they had played in his village was kabbadi or kho-kho.

But there are equally notable voices being raised against "too much cricket." A number of senior players, leading media commentators and even veteran cricket officials have criticised the BCCI for crowding the annual cricket calendar with too many matches and thus risking an early burn-out of players.

An idea of how much is too much can be had if one considers that not long ago the national team at best played two series, one at home, another abroad. In the summer, the Indian team went to play, say, in Australia or the West Indies; in the winter a foreign team visited India to play a five-match Test series.

Aside from these international fixtures, national players were seen in action playing for their home states in the domestic Ranji and Duleep trophies. A couple of national players also earned a few extra bucks by flying to England to play in their county cricket championship. That was all.

Now, it is hard to follow the schedule of international matches played by India.

There was no World Cup then. Nor the limited overs or one-day internationals. Nor, for that matter, the new-fangled Indian Premier League Twenty: 20 competition. And, of course, there was no Champions Trophy. Indeed, only three years ago the cricket season lasted about 150-170 days.

Now it is 250 days. Also, the number of countries recognised by the International Cricket Council (ICC), the sport’s apex body, has gone up over the years. Today, Kenya, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, etc are full-fledged Test-playing members of the ICC.

Surprisingly, spectator interest has not waned. This was visible in the recent Champions trophy.

Coming weeks after the stupendous success of the second season of IPL Twenty: 20 games played in faraway South Africa for nearly two months due to security concerns at home, many observers had talked of "spectator fatigue." But the BCCI was pleasantly surprised to see huge gate collections even in the relatively low-interest matches.

A few days after the end of the tri-nation Compaq Cup in Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy at home, the mighty Australians, the number one side in ICC rankings, played a series of seven one-dayers and three five-day Tests.

It was full house as usual, particularly in the shorter version of the game which invariably engages the entire nation in its last-ball outcome-determining thrills. And as soon as the Australians departed these shores after registering a convincing win over the home side, the Sri Lankans landed for an extended tour.

So, it has been non-stop cricket this year. Next month Indians would head for Bangladesh for the usual mix of one-dayers and Test matches.

Unsurprisingly, more and more players have been laid low by injury due to a backbreaking cricket calendar. Virendra Sehwag, M.S. Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, etc. have missed one or the other this year.

From the Australian captain Ricky Pointing to the iconic Sachin Tendulkar, almost every player has talked of the pressures of a clogged international calendar. Indeed, several players have faulted the crowded itinerary for the lack of training and player fatigue on and off the ground.

Also, due to international engagements, most national players have virtually stopped taking part in domestic tournaments.

A key barometer of the popularity of the game is the huge money advertisers are ready to spend.

Nearly a fifth of the total television advertising of over 80 billion rupees (US$1.7 billion)) is cricket- related. The channel buying the exclusive telecast rights on payment of a huge fee recovers costs plus a huge profit by selling commercial air time at a premium during the big-ticket matches.

Thanks to the big bucks earned by everyone associated with the game, there is no likelihood of the annual cricket calendar being curtailed in the near future.