As I write, the Indian Premier League edition three is almost two weeks days old. And in the first week itself the injury list looks visibly alarming. Two out of the eight starting captains are sitting on the bench, three key players are out of the tournament with injury and many more are nursing minor injuries, which have forced them to miss more than a game each.

The Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was out with a bruised hand and Gautam Gambhir is sitting out with a hamstring injury. In fact, Gambhir was rushed to Sri Lanka for ayurvedic treatment on the suggestion of teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan. Graeme Smith, the South African skipper is back home with a fractured finger and is also in doubt for the forthcoming ICC World T20 World Cup as is Dimitri Mascarenhas, the English all rounder who limped off the ground with an ankle injury. Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag, key to India?s chances in the ICC World T20 World Cup in the Caribbean starting within five days of the IPL getting over have both survived injury scares. When Sehwag grimaced with pain while fielding against Chennai, the country was forced to think back at India?s disastrous T20 encounter in the UK in June 2009. Without Sehwag and Zaheer Khan, India, then defending champions, failed to win a single game in the super eight stage.

To complicate matters further, the IPL, without doubt a commercially successful cricket television extravaganza, has now added two new teams for its fourth edition, adding 34 more games to the existing 60 in 2010. It will be played for 51 days in 2011 and will see a whopping 94 games being played. With the 50-over world cup also due in the subcontinent between February 18 and March 29, 2011, the fans, expectedly, will be tired of cricket with the IPL following suit within a week of the World Cup coming to an end. Simply put?for 100 days starting February 18, 2011, Indian cricket fans will be forced to digest cricket day in and out killing the proverbial golden goose. And if the injuries continue with alarming alacrity, weakening India?s chances in the soon to be held World Cup, chance of a backlash against the billion dollar league looks likely.

To be fair to the IPL, this is the only window when it could have been played in 2010. And it is only a strange decision on the part of the ICC to hold two T20 World Cups within nine months of each other that has placed the league in a spot. Commercial impediments, both on the part of the ICC and the IPL Governing Council are driving decision making, exposing performers to injuries and spectators to a situation of cricket saturation. The addition of two new teams, which have been bought for well over Rs 1500 crore, has made it imperative for all team owners to explore every possible commercial opportunity, even if it means forcing the players to the brink.

It is exactly for this reason that we see leading Australian players like Michael Clarke and Mitchell Johnson refusing the attraction of the IPL riches. For them and for the sake of cricket, the sport, the Baggy Green continues to matter more. Winning the ICC World T20 is more important than making a few millions in the IPL. Playing for Australia is still the ultimate achievement for an Australian cricketer. Once again I am forced to turn back to my favourite icon, Sachin Tendulkar. Those cardinal words?that he is first an Indian and only then is he a Mumbaikar, words that resulted in unnecessary controversy but Sachin, the champion patriot, held firm. In his words, ?My name is Sachin Tendulkar and I play for India.? That is what Indian cricket should be all about. Hope the BCCI is listening.

?The writer is a cricket historian