Legendary Indian cricketer-turned commentator Sunil Gavaskar is unhappy with the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) scheduling of ‘A’ tours which have led to state teams missing prominent players for Ranji Trophy 2024-25. The Ranji Trophy 2024-25 began earlier this month but Tilak Varma-led side is busy playing in the ACC Emerging T20 Asia Cup 2024. After the Emerging Asia Cup, players will head to Australia for India ‘A’ two-match series against Australia ‘A’. Gavaskar feels the premier domestic tournament Ranji Trophy is being 'devalued' by the BCCI.
"Even as India plays the current series against New Zealand, some of our players are competing in the Emerging Players Asia Cup. The Ranji Trophy season has begun, and if players are being taken away to play in events like this, then the national tournament is being greatly devalued," Gavaskar wrote in his column on Sportstar.
India 'A' started their campaign with a thrilling seven-run win over defending champions Pakistan in Oman. They will face United Arab Emirates (UAE) in their next league stage game on October 21.
Recently, Tamil Nadu's Washington Sundar got recalled into the Test squad on the basis of his 152-run knock against Delhi.
ALSO READ: Kagiso Rabada breaks Waqar Younis' record, becomes fastest to 300 Test wickets by balls taken
Gavaskar also feels that the four-match T20I series in South Africa in November is not necessary either. Suryakumar Yadav-led side will miss a few prominent players who will be busy preparing for the Australia tour. Meanwhile, prominent Australia players like Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Pat Cummins, Usman Khawaja are currently playing in the Sheffield Shield tournament to prepare for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.
"Next month, there’s a needless four-match T20 series in South Africa before the tour to Australia. There will also be an ‘A’ team touring Australia next month, so effectively about 50 to 60 players will not be available for their State teams in the premier national tournament, the Ranji Trophy. No other major country treats its national tournament as cavalierly as India does," Gavaskar concluded in his column.
India A Squad for Emerging Asia Cup 2024:
Abhishek Sharma, Prabhsimran Singh(w), Tilak Varma(c), Nehal Wadhera, Ayush Badoni, Ramandeep Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Anshul Kamboj, Rahul Chahar, Rasikh Dar Salam, Vaibhav Arora, Aaqib Khan, Hrithik Shokeen, Anuj Rawat, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore
