The ongoing five-match Test series between India and England is evenly poised at 1-1 at the moment. While the Three Lions won the series opener in Hyderabad by 28 runs, the home team bounced back to win the second Test in Vizag by 106 runs.
India may have won the second Test but certain issues still persist, particularly in the batting department. They have managed to cross the 400-run mark only once in the first two Tests.
India’s two innings folded for 396 and 255 in Vizag while the hosts managed to post 436 and 202 in Hyderabad.
Disappointed with the Indian batters’ approach, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar has suggested a big change. He wants the youngsters to spend more time playing first-class cricket – be it for India A or Ranji Trophy.
"What the batters' failure to get big runs also shows how important it is before a Test match series for both batters and bowlers to play some first-class games and get themselves in the right frame of mind for the longer format of the game. The Ranji Trophy had started and it would have been perfect timing for the batters to get into the groove for the Test series by playing a couple of games," Gavaskar wrote in his column for The Mid-Day.
There was a time when Ranji Trophy was the benchmark for player performance and their ticket to the Indian team. However, things have changed lately as IPL performances also get the weightage now.
Veterans such as Jalaj Saxena and Paras Dogra never got the recognition and reward for their consistent performances in domestic cricket.
In order to curb this, Sunil Gavaskar wants the state associations to take some drastic measures.
"Some of the performances in the Ranji Trophy, especially after the Lodha panel reforms made it mandatory to give first-class status to some states who were not part of the Ranji Trophy circuit, have been mind boggling. While the thinking behind it may have been to spread the game to all parts of the country, what it did not take into consideration was that all those states were simply not ready to play at that level," Gavaskar stated.
"Yes, these states can employ three players from other states, especially some players who are good but not good enough to play for their established state teams but most of the other players won't even find a place in the 'C team' of most elite teams. So to read some old batting and bowling records being obliterated because some of these players playing in the plate division are scoring triple hundreds and century after century and bowlers picking seven-plus wicket hauls makes one feel sorry for those who held the records when the competition was really stiff," he further remarked.
