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Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali has criticized the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) nonchalant treatment of veteran players Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Notably, earlier this year, the BCCI strictly mandated that players must play domestic cricket in order to be selected for the Indian team.
Senior players Kohli and Sharma, on the other hand, are not subject to the requirement and are free to choose whether or not to play domestic cricket. Basit Ali believes it was due to the board's approach, the two have lost their Test cricket form, which has resulted in India's first-ever three-match home Test series thumping.
Basit Ali on Rohit and Virat
Basit slammed the senior players for their performance, pointing out that the younger players have performed better.
"It was the mandate that you must make yourself available for domestic cricket to be eligible for India selection. Everyone played domestic, all of them performed in patches - Shubman Gill, Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal...but dono (Rohit and Virat) ko free hand diya hua that (both have been given free hand), that 'you can exclude yourself'," said Ali on his Youtube Channel.
In addition, he suggested that the star pair play domestic cricket prior to the crucial five-match Test series against Australia.
"Virat Kohli, out of touch, not in form at all. He needs to play domestic (cricket) before flying to Australia; Rohit also. Test-match pratice can't be seen (in their batting)," he added.
With just one half-century to his credit, Kohli has amassed 250 runs from six Test matches this year at an average of 22.72. In contrast, Rohit has amassed 588 runs at an average of 29.40 from 11 Test matches (21 innings), with two hundreds and an equal number of fifties. Their position on the team has been under scrutiny after their dismal home season performance. With their individual Test careers drawing to an end, the two must therefore make a dramatic turnaround in the forthcoming tour to Australia.
