Former India player Kapil Dev has questioned veterans Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma playing a Ranji Trophy game after many years in the
ongoing edition of the tournament as well. While Kohli had not participated in a Ranji game for over 12 years, Rohit didn’t play nearly a decade in the red-ball domestic competition as well.

Talking about Kohli and Rohit’s recent domestic participation on YouTube channel ‘Cricket Adda,’ Kapil said [via Hindustan Times]: “If you are talking about Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, playing Ranji Trophy after 12 years…how is that right? It does not look good at all. It’s not because they did not perform. Whether they score runs or not, you have to score runs in domestic cricket. So yes, certain strong measures have to be taken.”

“But my point is, had we won or had Rohit or Kohli scored runs, would they have played Ranji Trophy? Don’t look at the performances, make the system strong. Whether you score zero or lakhs of runs, play cricket by staying within the system,” he added.

Kapil Dev also backed the BCCI’s new rule on players reducing family time on tours following the poor Test results over the past
few months as well.

“Taking your wives on tours is not wrong, but I feel that if the tour is one month, they should not be allowed for the first 20 days so that the players can play together as a team. Similarly, for a three-month campaign, at least for a month players should be left alone with the team. Also team should travel together, this is not an individual sport,” Kapil Dev concluded.