The BCCI has mandated all centrally contracted players to be available for domestic cricket with few exceptions.
India’s senior players will no longer have the leeway to opt out of domestic cricket as the BCCI has mandated all of them to take part in the Ranji Trophy including the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, according to a report by Hindustan Times.
It has bucked the trend of international stars taking time off, mostly going without domestic participation for years.
In the meeting at BCCI headquarters on Saturday, it was made clear that centrally contracted players can miss domestic cricket only if they are directed to do so by physio.
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The shift in culture was made clear soon after the Border Gavaskar Trophy debacle where India lost 1-3 as head coach Gautam Gambhir had directed some of the squad players to report to the state teams in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
The likes of Devdutt Padikkal, Narayan Jagadeesan and Prasidh Krishna all featured in the ongoing tournament which is in its semifinal phase.
The report also states that players will be granted time off only through the approval of Gambhir or chief selector Ajit Agarkar.
Rohit’s captaincy and his place in the Test team came under severe scrutiny after the series loss in Australia as he opted out of the final Test in Sydney. Rohit managed only just 31 runs from five innings while Kohli scored 190 runs from nine innings.
Despite scoring a hundred, Kohli’s dismissal pattern of knicking balls outside off stump set off the alarm bells for the team management. Kohli hasn’t featured for Delhi for over decade now and same with Rohit who hasn’t played for Mumbai.
Rohit has reportedly told the management that he will remain captain for sometime and has asked BCCI to look for a future captain candidate.
At the meeting, the duo’s future was also discussed and it is yet to be seen if they will be part of the upcoming Tests against England. After featuring in two World Test Championship finals, India’s home series loss to New Zealand and then in Australia have costed them a place in the 2023-25 WTC final at Lord’s.
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