The Indian Premier League's (IPL) increasing propensity to give preference to unproven, raw talent over reliable domestic performers has drawn harsh criticism from batting legend Sunil Gavaskar.

According to Gavaskar, teams should concentrate their scouting efforts on more competitive venues such as the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy rather than state-level T20 leagues and U-19 competitions.

“This year’s IPL proved once again that relying on the performances of the state T20 leagues is not the way to go into the auction. It’s far better to go by the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy deeds, as these games are a lot more competitive,” Gavaskar wrote in Mid-day.

The former captain of India also pointed out a concerning pattern among younger players, implying that their motivation may be impacted by early celebrity and monetary benefits. Gavaskar emphasized the importance of temperament and match awareness over flashy, short-term impact.

“Many of the youngsters not used to so much money lose the motivation and are quite content just to be around rather than perform. What is needed is to see when the batting and bowling performances came. He runs, and the wickets have to come when it matters,” he noted.

He also questioned the obsession with strike rates, saying, “Some will justify scoring 15 in five deliveries as it’s a strike rate of 300, but maybe it was important that they batted another 15 deliveries and got 40 to take the team to a win.”

Gavaskar came to the conclusion that "temperament and timing" should be valued just as highly as power and potential after criticizing numerous so-called "six hitters" who excelled in lower leagues but faltered on the big stage.