Call for 'intent' from seniors amid packed schedule

The demanding Test series in South Africa concluded in early January 2007 and by the monthrsquos end India was gearing up for a bilateral ODI series against the West Indies serving as preparation for the upcoming 50over World Cup in the Caribbean The Indian team played four ODIs on January 21 24 27 and 31 in Nagpur Chennai Cuttack and Vadodara respectivelyOn February 1 four pivotal members of the squadmdashSachin Tendulkar Zaheer Khan Ajit Agarkar and Sourav Gangulymdashwere aboard a flight from Vadodara to Mumbai Their destination was crucial as Mumbai was set to clash with Bengal in the Ranji Trophy final from February 2 to 6 a prestigious match none of them wished to miss In this highstakes encounter Tendulkar notched a century Ganguly scored 90 and Zaheer claimed a slew of wicketsRemarkably within 48 hours of the Ranji final Tendulkar Ganguly and Zaheer were required to play in an ODI series against Sri Lanka At that time the concept of workload management had not yet gained traction in the cricketing communityIn stark contrast the Indian team recently whitewashed 03 by New Zealand at home included senior players who were excused from participating in the Duleep Trophy despite enjoying a reasonable break after the T20 World Cup with only a brief threematch ODI series against Sri Lanka in between Aside from Jasprit Bumrah whose injuryprone physique and exceptional talents necessitate careful workload management questions are arising about the decisions of Virat Kohli Rohit Sharma R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to withdraw from the Duleep TrophyIn gruelling heat of second week of April in the year 2000 he played Ranji Trophy semifinal for Mumbai against Tamil Nadu and scored a double hundred in a first innings chase of nearly 500 former India opener Devang Gandhi who had been a national selector between 2017 to 2021 recalled while talking to PTIIn another three days he was playing the Ranji final against Hyderabad which had Mohammed Azharuddin and VVS Laxman and scored a fifty and a hundred Tendulkar played Ranji semifinal and final in a space of two weeks in April after playing ODIs till end of March added the former playerFor context the last Ranji Trophy match Kohli participated in was in Ghaziabad against Uttar Pradesh in 2013 a game that also featured luminaries like Virender Sehwag Gautam Gambhir Ashish Nehra Ishant Sharma Suresh Raina Mohammed Kaif and Bhuvneshwar Kumarmdasharguably one of the last starstudded contests in Ranji Trophy history Rohits last Ranji appearance for Mumbai was in 2015 Since then both players have only engaged in one firstclass match each Kohli for India A before a tour of Sri Lanka in 2017 and Rohit for India A before a home series against South Africa in 2019 when he was set to open in TestsAlso ReadIndia need big Australia series win to reach WTC finalIn comparison Sachin Tendulkar amassed an impressive 310 firstclass games during his career including 200 Tests thus averaging about 110 firstclass matches over 24 years despite a grueling international schedule In contrast Kohli has played merely 32 firstclass games while Rohit has participated in 61 matches since his debut in 2006However it is essential to acknowledge that the Tendulkars Laxmans Dravids and Gangulys of their era did not face the extensive twomonth IPL and T20 international engagements that the current generation encounters Rohit has played an astounding 448 career T20 matches while Kohli is just shy of 400Obviously workload is important and so is rest Gandhi saidBut for batters if you realise that you are not in best of form you have to take recourse to domestic cricket I believe one Duleep Trophy game could have been played Gandhi reasonedFormer chairman of selectors MSK Prasad has pointed out that comparing the two eras is inherently flawed given the sheer volume of cricket being played today This nuanced perspective encourages a deeper understanding of the evolving landscape of cricket where the dynamics of player participation rest and performance are continually reshaped by the demands of both traditional formats and the burgeoning T20 sceneIt is unlike Kapil paaji and Sunny sirs days volume of cricket has increased exponentially It takes a lot out of cricketers Prasad saidI think the oneoff Irani Cup match is where the BCCI can make it mandatory for stars to show up for the Rest of India team but they have to slot it at a time which is not overlapping with a Test series he suggestedAlso ReadA bitter pill to swallowPrasad also felt that there should be a structured rotation policy in place to manage workloads something that the committee led by him introduced between 2017 and 2021I do not know why the rotation system started by us to ensure breaks for players has been done away with you did not need all the stars to play against Bangladesh he saidThe BCCI had emphasised the need for big players to show up for domestic engagements a few months ago but at the same time the Board allowed them to skip Duleep Trophy which took place before the twoTest rubber against BangladeshChampion players are very selfaware individuals But Sometimes a nudge is required to help them Having said this the expectation needs to be set from the right stakeholders at the very start to avoid awkward situations said another former selector Jatin Paranjpe putting the onus on the BoardPossibly the way forward for the Board will be to make it mandatory for the Indian team members unless someone is injured to play at least one or two domestic games before a major Test seriesThe India cricket season which runs from October to March will always have Ranji Trophy overlapping with some home Test series unless the team travels to Australia New Zealand or South Africa during the same periodA good way is to schedule a home Test series in such a manner that at least one or two Ranji rounds precede it instead of running parallelly which has been the case all this while Prasad said