Former India opener Aakash Chopra is of the strong opinion that players not featuring in international games must play first-class matches. The remarks come in the background of keeper-batter Ishan Kishan missing out on a couple of international series and not playing the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2024 at the same time.
Chopra asserts domestic cricket is the way, not just IPL!
In a video on his YouTube channel, it looks like Chopra is indeed taking a veiled dig at Kishan. The ex-opener cites instances from back in his playing days when legends including Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath and many more used to play domestic cricket when there was a gap in the international schedule.
Chopra asserts that it is not okay to skip domestic cricket and return to IPL and use that as means to gain an entry back into the national side. He hopes that the selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar will send a strong message to those skipping 1st class cricket.
He adds that there can be a few exceptions like Virat Kohli or Jasprit Bumrah where the reasons could be personal or workload management. Chopra flags that there are a lot of youngsters who have only played a handful of 1st class games. He opines that these players think they can perform in the IPL and get selected to the national side and that such a mindset has set in.
BCCI has issued a diktat to players currently taking “breaks” to play the Ranji Trophy last round starting Feb 16. They have taken the break from domestic games without the advice of the National Cricket Academy (NCA). The diktat directly affects players such as Ishan Kishan who has escaped the mandate of playing Ranji matches for Jharkhand.
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