India cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir advocated for every member of the team to play domestic red-ball cricket during the international break. His statement came after India conceded the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in 10 years. While he cited getting “desired results” as the reason for his demand, there seems to be double standards meted out to stars who were a part of the Test squad. After their brutal bashing Down Under, one can hardly avoid raising the question – is stardom and performances in IPL more than enough to secure a spot in Team India than grinding it out in domestic cricket? Isn’t there double standards when seniors are asked to return to the domestic circuit when those who have done so have been ignored so far?
Why the double standards when it comes to domestic cricket?
India’s squad for the IND vs AUS Test series was filled with regular players in domestic cricket. The likes of Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Devdutt Padikkal, and Washington Sundar are some of the players who took part in domestic red-ball tournaments consistently before making their way to the side for IND vs AUS Test series. However, what we saw throughout the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was that these players got very limited opportunities, if not nothing at all, while seniors who blissfully skipped such tournaments in the name of workload were given repeated chances.
The likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, and Mohammed Siraj were given a chance to give these tournaments a miss in 2024 while the other younger stars were compelled to participate in order to secure their future in the Test side. The result was pretty evident. Barring Nitish Reddy and Sundar, none of the other stars lived up to the expectations. Naturally, Gambhir had to echo BCCI’s directive from early on in 2024 to all the players to take part in domestic red-ball tournaments to improve their game.
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Take for example Abhimanyu Easwaran. Despite having 7674 runs from 101 first-class matches since his debut in 2013, he has never been given an opportunity to debut for India. What’s worse is that he was made to warm the bench throughout the IND vs AUS Test series despite being named in the squad, probably as a backup opener. His consistent performances in the domestic season followed by his experience of playing in the India A tour ahead of BGT should have surely warranted for a place in the XI. But instead, he warmed the bench entirely.
Another example would be Sarfaraz Khan. After a great deal of struggle despite stellar consistency in domestic cricket, he was finally given a chance in IND vs ENG series in 2024. While he was a part of the home series against New Zealand, the Mumbai batter was benched throughout the IND vs AUS series while other players were preferred over him. Once again, it was a classic case of the team management ignoring the efforts of those who made their way to the side proving their mettle in domestic cricket, only to be on the sidelines when it mattered the most.
Dhruv Jurel got an opportunity in the 1st Test in Perth when Shubman Gill was out of action. But that was it. For another regular in domestic red-ball cricket, he should have been rewarded with more chances. Instead, the team decided to simply stick with seniors only.
Devdutt Padikkal, another regular in domestic tournaments, was given just one game. Tanush Kotian, named as a replacement for Ashwin midway through the BGT 2024-25 series, did not even see the light of the day in terms of playing XI despite promising performances back at home in domestic cricket. Prasidh Krishna, who was given just one chance in IND vs AUS 5th Test, is another star who has been a regular in domestic cricket but hasn’t been given enough chances.
Nitish Reddy and Sundar reap rewards
Only two stars managed to reap the rewards for their domestic success – Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar. While the former featured in all five Tests, thanks to the BCCI’s decision to fast-track him, the latter was used only in the last two matches. The duo did not make it to the squad simply because they starred in IPL and garnered fame in a span of two months. Instead, they sweated it out in Ranji Trophy & Duleep Trophy before being named in India’s squad.
Senior stars need to step up & play domestic tourneys
The likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma must return to the domestic fold in order to rediscover their form. More so, they need to take part in the Ranji Trophy simply because it has been too long since they have stayed away from it. And giving them an option has surely not helped so far. The same goes for Rishabh Pant as well. It has been quite literally six years since he took part in a first-class tournament on a regular basis. If Gambhir wants to make sure that all players must play domestic cricket, then it should start with the seniors. And surely, it makes the most sense if those who are regulars in domestic cricket are rewarded better than those who simply enjoy seniority or stardom.
