COA chief Rai backs Kohli

New Delhi, Nov 26 : The chairman of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) for Indian cricket, Vinod Rai on Sunday backed India skipper Virat Kohli over his complaint about the cramped scheduling of the series.

Rai said he empathises with Kohli and that players need to be taken care of. "I totally empathise with Kohli. That is a fact. What we recognise as (Future Tour Programme (FTP) has been drawn up such that all the state associations get chances to conduct matches, which means they get chance to generate revenue.

"And unfortutely it is the players from whom these revenue comes and their interests are not taken care of," former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India Rai said at the Times Lit Festival here.

India are currently playing three Test series and will then finish their limited overs matches against Sri Lanka on December 24 (fil T20I) before they fly off to South Africa on December 28, with the first Test starting on January 5.

They play a two-day warm-up tie, starting on December 30 at Boland Park, Paarl.

In South Africa, the Kohli-led side will play three Tests, five One-Day Intertiols (ODIs) and three Twenty20 Intertiols (T20Is).

Indian cricketers have been playing non-stop cricket since the start of the IPL which was followed by the ICC Champions Trophy, away tours of West Indies and Sri Lanka and three successive home series against Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka comprising 23 matches (3 Tests, 11 ODIs and 9 T20 Intertiols). IANS