As the cricketing world gears up for the highly anticipated Champions Trophy 2025, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan set social media abuzz with a cryptic tweet. His post, shared on 'X' (formerly Twitter), came shortly after Virat Kohli’s underwhelming Ranji Trophy performance, where he managed just six runs in his return to domestic cricket after over a decade. Pathan wrote, “At the end of the day, a modern-day cricketer’s job is to play cricket year-round, managing niggles and injuries, not to train for 10 months just to play for 2 months.” At the end of the day, a modern-day cricketer’s job is to play cricket year-round, managing niggles and injuries, not to train for 10 months just to play for 2 months. — Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) January 31, 2025 The ambiguous remark sparked widespread speculation, with fans dissecting its possible targets. Some theorized it was a veiled comment on Kohli’s selective participation in domestic cricket, while others linked it to MS Dhoni, who now plays only in the IPL. Read also: Watch: Hardik Pandya Smashes No-Look Six in 4th T20I vs ENG Is Pathan questioning the present scenario of cricket? Probably so. Keeping aside the dip in the form of Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and whoever else, Indian cricket's international schedule is jam-packed and somehow seems like a 9-to-5 job and not a sport. Something similar resonated in Rohit Sharma's voice when he told on the day of the Champions Trophy squad selection that the all-format international player hardly gets time to show up in the domestics. He had mentioned 7-8 years of time when the players hardly got time to breathe! Yes, his words can be countered when Shreyas Iyer was sacked despite shining in the 2023 World Cup with back pain and appearing in the England home Test without annoyance. A single denial to skip a domestic match cost him the entire contract. But still, the entire schedule for cricket can be brought under a microscope, and now a breather looked necessary, the BCCI mandates dragged the players to domestic cricket. BCCI and their bizarre practice schedules The schedule for the last to Test cycles had the IPL, a 20-over format tournament, scheduled before the World Test Championship. The last two times, when India qualified, they had "prepared" in the league to play a 5-day match. Similar things happened when the management wanted the player to play first-class red-ball cricket to get form in 50-over white-ball cricket. Does saturation play a part in off-form? Even if it does, a cricketer's job is still to play cricket without injury. Just like Kohli and the rest are doing so in the domestics. Notably, neither Kohli nor Rohit overcame the dip, as the former scored just 6 runs against the Railways before getting dismissed.