Indian players should have played Ranji before NZ tour

Bangalore: Former Indian skipper Rahul Dravid’s comments that Indian players who are in squad for tour of New Zealand should have played in the Ranji Trophy quarters are worth in gold.

First, there’s nothing like having match practice ahead of a big tour. Yes, players such as Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara, who played stellar role in the just concluding series of South Africa, deserve a break, but the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who hasn’t been into action for close to a month, would have done well with some match-practice under his belt.

Six India players could have played Ranji quarters: Dravid

Secondly, if players like Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina take part in domestic matches, it raises the level of interest among the fans as they would love to see their favourite stars in action at home.

Not very long ago, Sachin Tendulkar’s appearance in his last Ranji match against Haryana in a small district called Lahli saw houseful attendance.

Rohit, who had a miserable tour of South Africa, too would have got a boost to his confidence by scoring some runs in the Ranji.

Alas, it wasn’t meant to be!

For some reasons, cricket stars have shunned domestic cricket to be fresh for international tours. But domestic tournaments need them as much as Team India for national duty.  An experienced cricketer playing in domestic tourney can share vital inputs with younger teammates that can only make them mentally strong for future challenges.

With Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag grinding in domestic cricket, it has only added more value to local tournaments.

However, Team India’s management argues that a lot of factors --- such as jetlag, getting airplane tickets -- have made the cricket team board an early flight to New Zealand.

But Dravid has a point when he says players who needed match practice could probably join the team a day or two later. 

International cricketers take practice match ahead of Test or ODIs series seriously as few runs or wickets under their name give the confidence to take on the best when the real battle follows.

Who can forget Sachin Tendulkar’s double hundred in 1998 against Shane Warne & Co. that paved the way for Master Blaster to put his authority over the Australian attack in the following Test series.

But considering Indian batsmen recent show against South Africa in the first Test where they piled runs without playing a single practice match, it speaks volume of the talent and skill of the current crop of Indian players. Hopefully, they would get it right this time too on the tour of New Zealand.