Indian Team Management Warns Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma: ‘Your Game Will Stagnate’ Without Domestic Cricket Exposure

Indian Team Management Warns Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma: ‘Your Game Will Stagnate’ Without Domestic Cricket Exposure

Former Indian cricketers Irfan Pathan and Sunil Gavaskar have expressed concerns over the current play of captains Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. The need for these seasoned players to play local cricket and regain their form was another subtly suggested option by head coach Gautam Gambhir at his news conference in Sydney. Kohli’s recent performances have drawn criticism; aside from a century in Perth, which was his worst-ever Australian tour, his scores have seldom been above 90 runs. He has averaged just above 30 in Tests since 2022. With a pitiful average of 6.2 and just 31 runs in five innings during the most recent trip, Rohit has not fared much better. His total of 164 runs, with just one fifty, in the previous eight Test matches since September has raised more questions.

Experts, including Gambhir, have recommended that both players think about playing domestic cricket again in light of the current difficulties. The 2024–25 Ranji Trophy season’s second half begins on January 23 and might provide Kohli and Rohit an opportunity to return to their peak. An insider in the Indian team management told The Indian Express that while domestic cricket may not be able to solve every issue, it might help players regain the rhythm required for Test matches. “Without match practice, the game will stagnate,” the insider said. They highlighted how difficult it can be to transition from white-ball to red-ball cricket, adding that playing Ranji games regularly keeps players in rhythm.

The year after his Test debut, in 2012, Kohli played his final Ranji Trophy match, and Rohit hadn’t participated in the local competition in nine years. In 2013, the year he retired, former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, a significant character in India’s cricket history, also made his final Ranji appearance. Pathan highlighted the absence of Rohit and Kohli from the competition in his post-Sydney Test analysis, highlighting the lack of dedication among contemporary cricket players to emphasize domestic sport.

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Senior players are not by any means the only ones who have passed up the Ranji Prize lately. The shortfall of significant Test players like Mohammed Siraj, Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul, and Shubman Gill from the association throughout recent years has started extra stresses over the eventual fate of red-ball cricket in India. To hold the players’ structure back from stagnating, the Indian side requires more noteworthy openness to nearby cricket as they have a significant delay until their next Test match in June 2023.