Kirti Azad, a member of the 1983 World Cup-winning team, voiced support for the BCCI's directive requiring cricketers to participate in the Ranji Trophy. He believes it's a positive step and should apply to all Indian team players, including Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
The out-of-favour duo of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were left out of the list of centrally contracted players as they disregarded the directive to participate in the Ranji Trophy.
Everybody should be playing Ranji Trophy cricket: Azad
“It (directive) is a very good move. Everybody should be playing Ranji Trophy cricket, but currently the emphasis is on the IPL. It is good, it is entertaining but the real cricket is the (five) days' cricket. Playing in domestic cricket is good, it keeps you in touch,” Azad told PTI Video.
"But whenever you are free, even if you're a Rohit Sharma or a Virat Kohli, you should go back and play domestic cricket for the state. That (state) gave you the opportunity to be a player, get selected and then play for the country.”
Azad believes penalising only Ishan and Iyer is unfair
"Just to penalise the two is not correct, I think everybody should be penalised. Everybody should be seen with the same mirror."
Azad refrained from commenting on whether this signalled a potential end for Ishan and Iyer after their names were left out of the list of centrally contracted players.
"My question is, are they playing enough domestic cricket? They are playing T20 cricket, nowadays and every other state has a T20 cricket league. Back in the days when we were starting our careers, players like Bishan Singh Bedi, Madan Lal, Surinder Amarnath, Mohinder Amarnath, Chetan Chauhan, Sunil Gavaskar, Sandeep Patil, Karsan Ghavri played alongside youngsters like me and Ravi Shastri.”
"All these senior Test team players would play for their sides, would play for the pride of their state which seems missing in the youngsters nowadays," he added.
Azad compares English and Indian cricketers
He wondered why Indian players faced difficulties playing domestic cricket while English cricketers willingly participated in county cricket when not representing the national team.
"Look at county cricket; there are 20-plus counties and there are numerous three-day and four-day games along with T20 cricket, but every player is involved there. If a player is left out of the Test squad, then he returns to play for his county.
"So why can't we have our players playing those domestic matches, that's the big question," he added.
Azad lavishes praise on Jurel, Sarfaraz
"There are players like Jurel, Sarfaraz who do play T20 cricket but, at the end of the day, are also representing their states in the Ranji trophy. The bowlers also get into the rhythm of bowling longer spells when they regularly play domestic cricket. It (Ranji) is not a form of slam-bang and thank you," he said.
He commended players like Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan for striking a balance between playing T20 cricket for their IPL teams and participating in the Ranji Trophy.
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