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A few India senior players are being called out for ignoring domestic cricket after the team’s historic series defeat at home to New Zealand.
Rohit Sharma (left) and Virat Kohli haven’t been anywhere close to their best this year so far. (BCCI Photo)
Criticism continues to fly thick and fast ever since India endured their first ever Test series whitewash at home to New Zealand last week. From questions over the quality of Indian batting against spinners to pitches themselves, plenty of reasons have been suggested. 2024 started with BCCI earning plaudits for issuing a directive to India players to not skip domestic cricket when not engaged in international cricket. However, today, the board is being asked why its top stars including captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli chose to skip the recent Duleep Trophy that was scheduled right before the beginning of their home season.
Before hosting Bangladesh in September-October, the last time India played a Test was back in March 2024. After that, the focus shifted to limited-overs cricket as India went on to win the T20 World Cup title.
Rohit and Kohli subsequently retired from T20Is with the pair only taking part in a three-match ODI series in Sri Lanka between the world cup final on June 29 and the first Test against Bangladesh that got underway from September 29.
There were reports that the Duleep Trophy will see participation of India Test regulars including Rohit, Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah among others. However, it wasn’t the case with the seniors reportedly agreeing to take part before backing out.
Kohli managed 192 runs across the two Test series against Bangladesh and New Zealand at home while Rohit just 133.
Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar says that selectors must learn from the experience of the home season and make it mandatory for the “well rested” players to take part in domestic cricket.
“The big learning for the selectors from this home season is that do not rest the already well rested players because of their stature. I say this again, both Rohit & Virat would only have benefited from playing the Duleep Trophy start of the season,” Manjrekar wrote on X.
The big learning for the selectors from this home season is that do not rest the already well rested players because of their stature.I say this again, both Rohit & Virat would only have benefited from playing the Duleep Trophy start of the season.
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) November 5, 2024
While India defeated Bangladesh 2-0 in a two-match series, they endured a 0-3 whitewash at the hands of New Zealand. The team is to travel to Australia next for a five-match Test series with the first match starting from November 22 in Perth.