The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shared a release on Thursday, where they announced the squads for the six-match white ball series in Sri Lanka. However, they also shared a firm statement regarding players’ participation in domestic tournaments as well.
“The BCCI will continue to monitor player availability and participation in the upcoming domestic cricket season, 2024-25,” the release said. It suggests that international players may be seen playing in domestic matches as well. While the BCCI’s push for international players to play domestic cricket seriously is not new, Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan faced a snub from the central contracts for skipping Ranji matches last season as well.
The BCCI, in collaboration with the selectors, will now closely monitor players’ activities when there is no international cricket going on and throughout domestic matches. The new domestic season will begin on September 5 with a four-team Duleep Trophy competition, and the participation of some international players can be witnessed as well.
“I’m a very strong believer in one thing, that if you’re good, you should be playing all the three formats. I’ve never been a big believer that injury management, you get injured, you go get recovered. As simple as it gets,” the new head coach had recently remarked.
“Injuries are part of a sportsman’s life. And if you’re playing all the three formats, you get injured, you go back, get recovered, but you should be playing all the three formats. I am not a big believer in identifying people that we’re going to keep him for Test matches or other formats. We’re going to manage his injury and workload and stuff. Professional cricketers, you’ve got a very small span when you’re playing for your country and you want to play as much as you can. And when you’re in very good form, go ahead and play all the three formats.” The new man in charge of the Indian team spoke to Star Sports.
However, this topic was discussed during Thursday’s selection committee meeting, attended by Gambhir. Moreover, with the squad announcement, it was also seen that Hardik Pandya lost his T20I captaincy because he wanted to skip the ODI leg of the Sri Lanka series. Meanwhile, it is also understood that both chief selectors Ajit Agarkar and Gambhir explained to Pandya the necessity of being available for all games as well. Notably, both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will play the ODIs in Sri Lanka as well.
