Mumbai: The utility of playing domestic cricket and balancing workload management, of match practice over match simulation sessions has been a vexed debate in modern day cricket. Indian cricket is grappling with the issue currently with leading players, not part of the upcoming five T20I matches against England, advised to play the next round of Ranji Trophy matches starting on January 23. The move steered by the selection committee is directed at the leading batters who were seen battling form and lacking confidence in the Test series in Australia with technical deficiencies having creeped in.
If the plan directed at all contracted players other than fast bowlers is implemented, Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant would turn up for Delhi against Saurashtra starring Ravindra Jadeja in Rajkot, Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal for Mumbai against Jammu & Kashmir in Mumbai and KL Rahul for Karnataka against Punjab where Shubman Gill would pad up in Bengaluru.
“If they are available and have the commitment to play red-ball cricket, everyone should play domestic cricket,” India head coach Gautam Gambhir said after the Sydney Test loss.
Coming on the back of a long Test season where results did not go to plan, and with month-long ODI action ahead starting February 6 followed by two months of IPL starting March 21, whether all players will take the domestic route remains to be seen.
With schedules having become increasingly congested for all-format players and the IPL window having gradually expanded, players have been wary of risking injury playing on the domestic turf. Rohit and Kohli have competed in only one Ranji match since the time they made their international debuts.
The move is no ‘diktat’, a board official privy to discussions with the selectors said. But if the players do not play Ranji Trophy without valid medical or fitness reasons, it would have a bearing on their future India selection.
This is not the first time BCCI has looked to take a firm stand. Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan lost their central contract last year after not heeding the advice to play domestic cricket. It’s unlikely that it will come down to that with Rohit and Kohli. Rohit’s Test future in any case is uncertain. With Kohli though, there is a strong view within the board that if he is keen to play on, he should bat with pomp like before and for that returning to the basics may be necessary.
However, a similar plan was laid out for Rohit and Kohli to play the Duleep Trophy last September to help them prepare for the home stretch of Tests, against Bangladesh and New Zealand. After the seniors requested to be excused, suggesting that they were better off resting, the matter was not pushed by the board. Both Rohit and Kohli struggled to cope against spin after the team decided to go for turning pitches in the last two Tests against New Zealand. In Kohli’s case, he had come to Test cricket with little red-ball cricket behind him, having sat out the home Tests against England in the first half of 2024 for personal reasons.
“There’s no substitute to spending time at the crease to regain confidence. It is for the player, no matter how experienced, to realise it,” a BCCI official said.
Jaiswal, Pant, Gill not considered for T20Is
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill would have been in contention for the England T20Is if they were not likely to be picked for the Champions Trophy.
Jaiswal’s status has gone up and he would have walked into the team, it is understood. In the case of Pant and Gill, while it’s true that they have failed to make a compelling case for selection in the shortest format, the side for the series against England, sandwiched between the Australia Tests and ODI matches, has been picked with a view to build a wider base for next year’s T20 World Cup. That’s how Dhruv Jurel came in as back-up for Sanju Samson and the selectors chose to give top-order batter Abhishek Sharma a longer rope.
With the Sydney Test match having ended on Jan 5, the view within BCCI is that a fortnight’s rest is enough time for the younger players, to gain some crucial match practice in first-class cricket, and that it may also prove beneficial to them in the white-ball season ahead, rather than relying on a handful of net sessions, while heading into the ODI series.
