Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar praised the BCCI’s recent move to incentivize players to participate in Test matches. This scheme offers a significant financial reward to players who feature in a majority of Tests throughout a season. However, Gavaskar urged the board to extend similar support to the Ranji Trophy, the premier domestic first-class tournament that acts as a feeder system for the Indian national team.
“It’s a wonderful thing by the BCCI to reward those playing Tests,” Gavaskar said, echoing sentiments expressed by coach Rahul Dravid who termed the scheme a “reward” rather than just an incentive. “But I would also request the BCCI to ensure the feeder to the Test team, the Ranji Trophy, is also looked after.”
Gavaskar proposed a substantial increase in match fees for the Ranji Trophy. “If the Ranji Trophy fees can be doubled or tripled, certainly there’ll be a lot more people playing the tournament and fewer pullouts,” he explained. Higher financial rewards would incentivize players to prioritize the Ranji Trophy and reduce cases of players opting out for various reasons.
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“They will all be wanting to play with the slab system [where additional payments are awarded after every 10 matches],” Gavaskar added, emphasizing the potential impact of increased fees. “So I would request the BCCI to look at that aspect as well.”
The batting great also welcomed the BCCI’s recent emphasis on encouraging prominent players to participate in domestic cricket. “Domestic cricket is actually how they [players] have come up,” he said. “They wouldn’t be where they are if they hadn’t started at the domestic level.”
Gavaskar highlighted the importance of domestic cricket in nurturing talent and urged players to never forget their roots. Another area Gavaskar addressed was the scheduling of the Ranji Trophy. The 2024 season, which ran from January to March, presented challenges for players due to its condensed format with short breaks between matches. This grueling schedule has also been a concern for Indian all-rounder Shardul Thakur and Tamil Nadu captain R Sai Kishore, who warned of potential injuries if the schedule remains unchanged.
“There’s probably a day in between [matches] for travel,” Gavaskar said, outlining the difficulties players faced with the short breaks. “During travel, there’s no time to go to the physio and maybe take his help to get fit from a niggle.” He advocated for a revised schedule that allows players adequate recovery time.
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Gavaskar proposed an alternative schedule for the Ranji Trophy, suggesting it be played from October to mid-December, followed by white-ball tournaments. This would ensure the availability of most players except those on national duty. “With the one-dayers beginning from January, people who are in the IPL can have enough practice from then,” he added.
Finally, Gavaskar expressed confidence in the long-term future of Test cricket. “Test cricket will definitely be around,” he said. While the frequency of five-Test series might decrease, Test cricket will remain a significant format, often played alongside T20Is and ODIs in multi-format tours.
