Heatstroke troubling Indian cricketers, IN TELEGRAPH

Don’t be surprised if heatstroke becomes a cricket term. Nor if a team ending the first day of a Test at 326 for none starts praying for rain.

Openers Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik fell to dehydration on a day the mercury, not Mashrafe Mortaza, was piling the heat at Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bangla Stadium.

Captain Rahul Dravid had the other day called for better scheduling by governing bodies so that the players don’t suffer. His warning came true on a day the temperature fluctuated between 38°C and 29°C and the relative humidity was a broiling 81 per cent.

Karthik, on 82, had to be helped out of the ground at tea and retired ill with a maiden Test ton in sight. Jaffer, coming off back-to-back ducks, battled for another 95 minutes to notch up 138, his fourth Test century, before deciding to follow his partner.

“Both suffered from nausea and dehydration. They had to be given saline and (physio) John Gloster is monitoring their condition,” administrative manager Surendra Bhave said.

Overnight batsmen Dravid (88) and Sachin Tendulkar (9) beware. The forecast for the next four days is: maximum temperature 34-35°C, humidity 76-83 per cent.

Jaffer was asked if being made to play in such swelter wasn’t a form of torture.

“(It’s) not in my hands; it’s up to the BCCI or Bangladesh Cricket Board to decide when and where to play,” he said. “It’s not easy (playing)…. Karthik and I had to leave because of cramps.”

Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore, tipped to take charge of India, was guarded: “The ICC calendar is crammed. If India was to come this year, this was the only time.” But he added: “It’s very difficult.”

Crammed? Dravid considered. “Over-crammed if you ask me. So I don’t know how we are going to fit everything in.”

The International Cricket Council said the national boards decide the fixtures. “We only ask teams to ensure they play each other in at least two Tests and three ODIs home and away over six years,” a spokesman said. “It’s up to the boards to schedule matches.”

The BCCI recently decided it would consult weather scientists before scheduling a series, but the Bangladesh tour had already been fixed. The fear, however, was about rain disruptions, a potential threat to revenues.