Jay Shah On Seniors Playing Domestic Cricket: BCCI Secretary Jay Shah has revealed the reason behind senior players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma not being forced to play domestic cricket when not part of the national side.
Apart from being the two senior-most players in the team, Virat and Rohit provide more than their on-pitch skills to the Indian National Cricket Team. While Kohli is the most prolific batter in world cricket, Sharma was the captain of the team across all formats before retiring from T20Is after winning the 2024 T20 World Cup. He is still the skipper in the two remaining formats.
Another player in a similar category of players who can skip domestic tournaments is Jasprit Bumrah. India’s ace fast-bowler might just be the most lethal pacer in the world in probably his best form. Not only was he named the Player of the Tournament for the recent T20 World Cup, but he looks like he can take a wicket at any ball; that is the form he is in.
Several Indian players are going to play domestic cricket for some time, more specifically, the Duleep Trophy. This is a four-team first-class cricket tournament with India A, India B, India C, and India D being the teams.
While Shubman Gill, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Shreyas Iyer will captain the four respective sides, national team regulars like KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Avesh Khan, and many more players will participate in the tournament.
Before that, there is the Buchi Babu All India Invitational Tournament, which is the oldest running red ball competition in India and is returning after a six-year hiatus. The likes of Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, and Sarfaraz Ahmed will play in the competition.
Jay Shah On Seniors Playing Domestic Cricket
So why are the likes of Kohli, Rohit, and Bumrah allowed to skip domestic tournaments and rest up? Jay Shah gave the answer to this in a recent interview with the Times of India.
“We should not force Rohit and Virat to play in the Duleep Trophy to avoid injuries. In Australia and England, some of the international players are allowed to skip domestic matches. We have to treat Rohit and Virat with respect.”
With Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma being in the final few years of their international careers and Jasprit Bumrah being injury-prone, it is understandable why these names are not forced to play any domestic cricket. A similar reason also applies to Hardik Pandya, who is not forced to play red-ball cricket due to his past injuries.
As for the national team, India will not play any international cricket for over a month now. Bangladesh will tour India for a two-test and three-T20I series, with the first Test starting on September 19.
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