A recent directive by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) suggests that players should prioritise domestic cricket when not on national duty.
Backing the move, India captain Rohit Sharma believes that it is important for everyone to feature in the domestic tournaments as it is the core of the game in the country.
“This talk has been going around for a long, long time. When players are available to play domestic cricket - unless they are given certificates from the medical group about rest or injury issues - and they are fit and fine, it is important to go and play domestic cricket,” Rohit said on Wednesday.
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Recently, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer missed out on the Board’s annual contracts for not featuring in domestic tournaments despite not being on national duty, leading to debates.
“It’s not for a few cricketers, but for everyone. I watched the Mumbai vs Tamil Nadu Ranji Trophy semifinal and today also, there was an interesting game which Vidarbha won (against Madhya Pradesh). When games like that happen, you see the quality on display and it’s important that we give importance to domestic cricket, which is the core,” Rohit said.
The ongoing Test series against England has once again brought the focus back on the Ranji Trophy after the likes of Sarfaraz Khan, Rajat Patidar and Dhruv Jurel broke into the national team following successful outings in domestic tournaments. The India captain, too, backed the youngsters.
“These players are picked because they have the game. They have the talent, they can hold the bat, play a cover-drive or a flick. And can bowl well. Once they are coming here, a little bit of nurturing is necessary because you need to know what weapon to use in what situation. All these things, you get to learn in international cricket. You are here because you have the game, the basic foundation of cricket — whether it is batting or bowling, that you have — but once you are here you have to build on it. And in that, our role is to help them understand a situation, how to react in a certain situation. Only if they are here, they get to learn,” Rohit said.
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Though Patidar has looked a bit jittery, Sarfaraz and Jurel have made their opportunities count, and Rohit feels that with exposure, they will only get better.
“If you are going out in a certain situation, you are prone to make mistakes. You might play a bad shot in a pressure situation and get out and it might look bad, and the analysis that is done on you might be bad. But in all those things, you have to learn and ensure not to repeat the same mistake in a similar situation again. The way our youngsters have responded, it has worked well for us,” he said.
“But we have to expect that they will make mistakes in future and we should not overreact when that happens. I think it is important to give them that understanding that these things are normal, it happens. Everyone has done it. It is not like, where someone was in a situation and didn’t make mistakes. It has happened. But it is important to learn from those mistakes so that you don’t do it again…”
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