India captain Rohit Sharma has urged the players to participate in domestic cricket when not engaged in national duties and unless deemed "unfit" by the BCCI's medical team. In a firm directive aimed at discouraging players from favoring one format over another, BCCI has urged all contracted cricketers to prioritize domestic cricket.
BCCI made an example from Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer, who were excluded from the recent central contract list for 2023-24. This was after both the players ignored BCCI instructions to play in the Ranji Trophy for their respective teams and instead kept preparing for the IPL 2024.
Ahead of the final Test against England, Rohit Sharma reiterated that this directive applies universally to all players and not just a select few.
"There has been talk about this for a long, long time. When the players are available, they've got to make themselves available to play domestic cricket, unless they have been given a certificate from the medical group that they want to be rested or will not be taking part in domestic cricket, but if you are available, if you are fit, if you're fine, it is important that we go and play that," said Rohit in a press conference ahead of 5th Test against England.
"It is not for just a few cricketers, it is for everyone to make sure that whenever you're available, and fine, you should be able to play domestic cricket,” Rohit added.
Rohit Sharma revealed that he kept track of the happenings in the Ranij Trophy tournament in which his team Mumbai made it into the final.
"You saw the Ranji trophy that was played this week. I watched Mumbai and Tamil Nadu, obviously, there was a very interesting game happening today as well, I think Vidarbha won (they did on Wednesday). When games like that happen, you see the quality and everything coming into display for everyone to watch. It is important that we give importance to domestic cricket, which is the core of Indian cricket," said the skipper.
(With inputs from PTI)
