Dravid expresses need for fixed home season

Rahul Dravid, the Indian captain, has emphasised the need for a fixed season at home along the lines of Australia and England. Dravid has suggested that India could play a home series every year in the winter months of November and December. India have had an irregular pattern of home series, the last of which was against England in March last year, and the one before that in December 2005 against Sri Lanka.

"A lot of cricket is being played nowadays. It is going to put a lot of pressure on players and it is a question of coping," Dravid told rediff.com a day ahead of the second Test against England at Trent Bridge. "It is about devising strategies on how to cope with the amount of cricket being played and how they are going to go about it."

He indicated that India must take the cue from Australia and England and host a series annually in November and December.

"For countries like India we don't have a set summer," he said. "England are always here [at home] in the summer, Australia are always at home in the summer. For us every year is different; we can be in different parts of the world, we can be playing in July in West Indies one year and in England some year and not playing in India in November or December, which is winter and which is where we should be playing."

Dravid felt a fixed home season would also aid preparation and team selection.

"It makes a huge difference I think personally from a captaincy point of view - of managing your resources, managing your players if you know exactly where you are going to be five-six months in the year. For us to manage our workloads and manage our teams is a lot more different than for the teams that have the advantage of knowing exactly where they are in their cricket season."

India will next play three Tests at home against Pakistan in November and December, following which they will travel to Australia for a four-Test series.