Wednesday, July 9 2008 -- Mahendra Singh Dhoni the wicketkeeper-batsman captain of India has been playing continuously for the past one year. The three-month tour of the UK, the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, a home series against Australia, the Test and ODI series against Pakistan, a Test series against South Africa, the Indian Premier League, the Bangladesh Tri-series and the Asia Cup were played in the past year. This hectic schedule has left Dhoni exhausted and so he has decided not to play in the forthcoming Test series against Sri Lanka.

Dhoni has met the BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah so that he can convey his decision formally. Accordingly the BCCI sources have made Dhoni’s decision known to the public.

In the Asia Cup the schedule was not proper and the Indian team had to play back-to-back games twice. Regarding this inconvenience Dhoni sarcastically commented that the team was running on reserve. Due to this statement the vice-president of the BCCI Rajiv Shukla made it clear that any player who is tired due to the cricket schedule should inform the board.

Dhoni took clue from this statement by Shukla but kept everybody guessing about what his decision was by saying that all would know his decision in a couple of days. Later he told Shukla that to prevent a burn-out he was in need of a break.