Sunil Gavaskar is not happy with the players like MS Dhoni and Shikhar Dhawan, who are dropped from the side, ignoring the domestic cricket. Gavaskar spoke about the importance of the cricket at domestic level. 

Talking to India Today, Gavaskar mentioned how the domestic cricket can benefit Dhoni who will play his next game in January. He talked about the gap between the former Indian captain featuring in a competitive cricket match.

Dhoni had missed out the limited-overs domestic tournament as well before the ODI series against West Indies. We saw a decline his performance in 2018 which has become a headache for the team as well. Replacing him before the World Cup 2019 won't be a good idea and that is why Dhoni will have to make himself more contributive. 

"He (Dhoni) didn't play the T20Is against Australia, before that he didn't play the West Indies Tests, and then he is not playing the Test series against Australia. So, he last played in October and will next play in January, which is a huge gap. But if he doesn't do well on tours of Australia and New Zealand, then there will be more questions asked on his place in the World Cup," Gavaskar said.

"As you grow older and if there is a gap in your [competitive] cricket, your reflexes will slow down. If you play any form of cricket at the domestic level, you get an opportunity to play long innings, which serves as a good practice for you."

Shikhar Dhawan was left out of the Indian Test side for Australia after a poor show in England. He has also skipped the domestic cricket.

"We shouldn't ask Dhawan and Dhoni 'why you are not playing domestic cricket'. We should, in fact, ask the BCCI and selectors that why are they allowing players to skip domestic cricket when they are not on national duty. If the Indian team has to do well, players have to be in prime form and for that, they have to play cricket," Gavaskar said.