Too much Cricket

How many times have we heard our dear beloved cricketers complaining of "too much cricket". I dont think I can agree with their constant complaining. Ok, let me analyse this clearly.

The cricketers possibly play cricket for about 150 days in a calenday year. A common working man, works for atleast 250 days in a calendar year. The cricketers are paid way more than the average working man. So, what the cricketers want is more money, and they want to work less? What kind of justice is that? Considering the kind of pay that the cricketers get, I would want them to work much more than even 250 days in a year.

Now another angle. A normal cricket match lasts upto 7 hours in a day. So even if a cricketer is not sitting on his backside in the dressing room, he can spend a maximum of 7 hours on the field of play, "working" (of course, that is expecting the cricketer, to be the wicket-keeper-cum-opening-batsman who bats all 50 overs, and even practices during the lunch break!). An average working man, works atleast 8 hours in a day. Somedays, the cricketers play 20-20 matches, which last only 3 and a half hours!

Ok, there may be an agrument from the contentious mind. Cricket is a physical sport, and a player could get injured, and that a player has to travel across the world to play matches and live away from home. My response to that would be simple: C'MON!! Isn't every industry unique? Doesn't each industry have it's own work environment? A cricketer knows what he is getting into when he decides to play cricket. I'm sure the aim of a striving cricketer, is NOT to sit in the pavillion, sipping tea and eating biscuits! As for the travelling bit, let me see...they travel to different countries, stay in a 5 star hotel, their food, travel, etc. is taken care of. They have so many off days, (and on their "working days" they work only 7 hours max) that they can do enough site-seeing. Their wives are allowed to travel with them. So where is the problem?

So what are the cricketers complaining of? Do they want more off days, to relax their tiring bodies? Most of them are in the age group 20-30. If they can't handle it, should they really be representing their country at the top level? And if they are not fit enough, should they not give others a chance to play, or should they make the viewers suffer by playing lesser? They are afterall in the entertainment business.

A last thought. Do they want more time off from cricket to do more advertisements? (this is in specific to the Indian cricketers)