A few days ago, there was a post on social media showing a picture of Pat Cummins. The text said something on the lines that the Australia captain had forced the entire Indian team to play domestic cricket. The source couldn’t be traced immediately. If someone notifies, it will be acknowledged here.
It’s a laudable directive from the BCCI that India stars turn up for their states when available, following some lacklustre performances in Test matches of late. A lot of players had skipped these fixtures when they could have played. If they needed to be told that Ranji Trophy and other domestic events are important, the parent body has done that.
Is it good for the state teams? In every circumstance? Rohit Sharma turning out for Mumbai in a key game turned out to be detrimental for the team. India’s Test and ODI skipper walked into a side in firm reckoning for a knockout berth. His inclusion upset the order, although he was not leading the side, and led to the exclusion of a youngster going great guns.
Ayush Mhatre is a 17-year-old who made his first-class debut this season. After six matches, the opener averages just above 40 with two centuries, including one in Mumbai’s previous match against Services in November. During the break in Ranji Trophy, he played a part in his team’s Vijay Hazare Trophy triumph by stacking up 458 runs from seven innings at 65.42 with two hundreds.
One can’t question Rohit’s return to the Ranji fold for the first time since 2015, taking into account the BCCI’s decision to make it mandatory for players to go through the domestic grind. Being the captain and the senior-most player in the India set-up, the 37-year-old led by example by becoming a part of this, soon after a harrowing Australia trip, and shortly before an ODI series preceding the Champions Trophy.
This backfired massively for Mumbai. In contention for a knockout berth before this Elite A group debacle against Jammu & Kashmir at Bandra-Kurla Complex, the defending champions saw their top order collapse in both innings. Rohit was not singularly responsible for this, but he looked out of sorts. The white-ball ploy of going for it from the word go didn’t work. Nor did the waiting game.
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This leads to the bigger question. What is Rohit’s future in Test cricket? The Indian team will leave for England soon after the Indian Premier League (IPL) gets over in end-May. There is no news of any practice game before the five-Test series yet. The India A team will be there, but chances of the top guns playing those games are minimal considering the IPL schedule.
How much did Rohit benefit in terms of sharpening his craft for the longest format by playing this Ranji match? And to what extent could he have done that by playing a four-day game in January looking ahead to a series in June? Practically, there was no chance for him to get ready for the Test challenge by playing this Ranji match, which further revealed his waning powers in red-ball cricket.
Making domestic cricket more relevant by getting the India players to show up is a welcome move. But it has to be implemented with certain practical considerations. It’s not to suggest that Mumbai are in a spot of bother as far qualifying for the knockouts is concerned because Rohit played this game. At the same time, it’s hard to overlook that his inclusion upset the team equilibrium.
Mhatre will get more opportunities and Rohit will be very happy to see if he makes progress. However, the BCCI, the state teams and everybody involved with the system must ensure that this ‘mandatory domestic participation’ doesn’t happen at the cost of the goals of a team trying to win the very tournament the board is prioritising. It’s a thin line that has to walked with caution.
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