This is leaky glum time in Indian cricket. The latest ‘scoop’ centres around a young cricketer who reportedly has been accused by head coach Gautam Gambhir of “leaking” dressing room secrets in Australia. Quite how so much ‘information’ came out of the BCCI’s review meeting where the cricketer wasn’t present was anyone’s guess.
India suffered a humiliating home series whitewash against New Zealand before losing 3-1 in Australia. India lost because of lousy team selections, bad strategy, wrong tactics, poor technique on turning and seaming pitches and ensconced deadwood in the squad. The BCCI seemingly has addressed the issues by doing some HR rejig – from limiting the wives-and-girlfriends’ stay during an overseas tour to putting out new team-bus protocols.
The odd cricketing decisions, too, have been taken following the review meeting, and asking the Indian team players to go back to domestic cricket is one of them. It needed an embarrassment for Indian cricket to return to the basics. Every cloud indeed has a silver lining.
Suddenly, almost every star appears keen on playing the Ranji Trophy. “Hopefully it becomes a habit also, a routine, and not just a one-off,” Sanjay Jagdale, the former BCCI secretary who also served as a national selector, told RevSportz. The hint of sarcasm was unmissable.
Rishabh Pant will turn up for Delhi in their next Ranji Trophy match against Saurashtra. Shubman Gill will play for Punjab. Yashasvi Jaiswal will open for Mumbai against Jammu and Kashmir. Even Rohit Sharma has started training with the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team, although the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) is yet to hear from him about his availability for the game. Nothing has been heard from Virat Kohli as well. But the star players returning to the domestic fold has sort of created an environment where it seems they are extending a favour to Indian cricket. It reeks of entitlement.
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“It’s unfortunate,” Jagdale observed. He went back to the time when the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar took pride in playing for their respective state/domestic sides. “Sunny used to play domestic cricket even after coming by a late-night flight (from an international assignment),” added Jagdale. “Way back in 1992, I saw him playing for Bombay Gymkhana against Dadar Union. His team lost two quick wickets. Sunny came in at No. 4, scored 92 not out and saw his team through. By then he had hung up his international boots. But despite scoring more than 10,000 Test runs and 34 centuries, he played the game with top intensity. Kapil and Sachin also, when they played domestic cricket, they never made a token presence. They made serious contributions.”
Tendulkar played his last Ranji Trophy match in October 2013, against Haryana in Lahli. In a fortnight, he would call time on his glorious international career. To put things in perspective, Kohli’s last Ranji Trophy game was in 2012.
As Gambhir signed off the Australia tour with a blustery press conference, he urged every player to play domestic cricket. “I would always like everyone to play domestic cricket,” the head coach had said. “That is how much importance domestic cricket needs to be given. Not only one game, if they are available and they have the commitment to play red-ball cricket, everyone should play domestic cricket.”
Now, there’s a catch. The Indian team had a designated reserve opener in Abhimanyu Easwaran in Australia, but he was never considered for selection despite the team facing opening uncertainties. Easwaran is a domestic cricket thoroughbred, having a first-class average of 48.87. Sarfaraz Khan, boasting a first-class average of 65.61, wasn’t considered as a solution to India’s middle-order muddle. So, was Gambhir offering just lip service?
“We are too much dependent on franchise (cricket) now,” Jagdale concluded.
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