Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill are the ones not playing Ranji Trophy games for their respective teams, starting tomorrow.
Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill will not be featuring in the Ranji Trophy games for their respective teams, starting tomorrow. However, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, who did not play in the matches last week, will be turning up for Delhi and Karnataka respectively. Ravindra Jadeja, the star performer for Saurashtra against Delhi last week, will be turning up again in what is a must-win game for his team.
In total, most national team players will be playing just one game. While the clamour to play domestic cricket is good, the fact that most will end up playing just one match raises questions about the timing of the decision. Was it a knee-jerk reaction in the aftermath of the New Zealand and Australia defeats, or is it really a structural call with an eye on the future?
The other question that needs asking is how much these players benefit from playing a solitary Ranji Trophy game? Rohit and Jaiswal failed in both innings, and while Jaiswal was in very good form in Australia, Rohit’s struggles have continued back home as well. With failures in both innings, he can’t have come out of the fixture any more confident. Rather, Rohit needs to bat long hours in the nets and get into the white-ball mindset ahead of the England ODIs and the Champions Trophy. Rishabh Pant too did not score many, and none of these players except Gill gained much from the token Ranji Trophy appearance.
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For Kohli too, it will be the same. While his presence has made the game relevant for the fans, with the England ODI series just a week away, he’ll soon have to change gears and get into the groove in the 50-over format. Thereafter, he will turn up for India in the Champions Trophy in Dubai, and then play the IPL for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). How this one Ranji Trophy game might help him rectify his flaws outside the off stump is anyone’s guess. Whether he scores big runs or not, it will have little or no bearing on his red-ball form. What will be more important is Kohli turning up for the India A games against the England Lions immediately after the IPL is over. That’s where the real red-ball practice can be expected, helping him get ready for the five-match England Test series.
While I am all for players playing domestic cricket, it is also important to make optimum use of their presence. What is happening now is perhaps not the best way to go about it. Rather, it will only add meat to the tokenism debate, and not much will come of it. The real test will be at the start of the next red-ball season, for that’s when these national team players will need to turn up for their state sides to validate the change in approach.
For the moment, it feels like an aberration. For anyone in Delhi, it will make sense to go and watch Kohli, for entry is free and there is no pressure of expectation either associated with this game. Having said that, Kohli should do what Sachin Tendulkar did in his last Ranji game – play it with utmost seriousness, and win it for his team. That’s what great players do.
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