The last round of the Ranji Trophy saw India’s top international stars returning to the elite domestic first-class competition after a long gap; but most of them, barring Ravindra Jadeja and Shubman Gill, didn’t finish on a satisfying note, which made former India captain Sunil Gavaskar unhappy.
After India’s 1-3 defeat in the Border Gavaskar Trophy on the Test tour of Australia, Gavaskar and many former India cricketers had questioned the reluctance of India’s top players, including Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, to play domestic cricket despite going through an extended poor run with the bat.
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It followed the BCCI reiterating its diktat that makes it mandatory for the centrally-contracted players to be available to play for their state teams when not on national duty, barring an injury.
As a result, most of them turned up for their respective teams in the Ranji Trophy round that ran from January 23 to 26.
“The BCCI and the coach’s insistence on the Indian players playing in the Ranji Trophy meant that most of the players who were on the disastrous tour of Australia turned up for their state teams in the Ranji Trophy,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
“Whether their hearts were in it or they did that only to ensure they were not stripped of their BCCI contracts, like Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were, after missing out on the Ranji Trophy games last year, is known only to them.”
The attention was primarily on Rohit playing for Mumbai against Jammu and Kashmir, but it didn’t paint a rosy picture as Rohit scored 3 and 28 in his two innings, while Yashasvi Jaiswal registered knocks of 4 and 26.
The game also featured Shreyas Iyer who scored 11 and 17.
The only shining spot for Mumbai in batting was all-rounder Shardul Thakur‘s rearguard knocks in both the innings, which kept Mumbai in the match that they eventually lost by five wickets.
Thakur scored 51 in the first innings and 119 in the second while batting at No. 8; Tanush Kotian’s 62 in the second innings also stood out.
“Only Shardul Thakur, batting down the order, showed the gumption and desire to stick it out. But for his batting in both innings, the Mumbai score would have been embarrassing for a side filled with four Indian Test players in their top five,” said Gavaskar, expressing his disappointment.
Besides Rohit, Jaiswal and Iyer, Mumbai also had skipper Ajinkya Rahane in their top five full of Test heavyweights.
Gavaskar wasn’t happy with the over-aggressive intent shown by the experienced Mumbai and Indian batters, while Thakur and Kotian exhibited that runs could be scored on that track.
“What Thakur and Tanush Kotian showed with their big partnership is that with a proper mix of caution and aggression, runs could be scored on the surface. The J&K batters also showed the same attitude and thus overhauled the target quite comfortably,” Gavaskar wrote.
“The dismissal of Mumbai’s Test batters once again brought to the fore the perils of the all-out aggressive mode of batting that is nowadays thought of as being central to run-making. It can work on flat pitches, but on pitches where the ball is doing something, there has to be a technique good enough to keep out the good delivery.”
Gavaskar cited instances of irresponsible shot-selection by the Indian batters during the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney.
“There are more chances of a dismissal while looking to play in a manner that one is not used to, as was seen in the recent Sydney Test when rushes of blood caused some silly-looking dismissals,” he mentioned.
Among the Indian stars on show, all-rounder Jadeja excelled with the ball, taking a match-haul of 12 wickets in Suaurashtra’s win over Delhi, while Shubman Gill scored a century for Punjab against Karnataka.
The next round of the Ranji Trophy begins on January 30, which will see Virat Kohli making his return for Delhi against Railways in the tournament for the first time since 2012.