Photo Credit: Instagram Photo of @suniljoshi06
Former India selector Sunil Joshi has stated that critics should stop blaming the BCCI or the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee, instead suggesting that the responsibility lies with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
He criticized the two senior batters for not participating in domestic cricket, especially after their poor performances against Bangladesh and New Zealand. Kohli scored just 93 runs against New Zealand, averaging 15.50, his lowest in a home series in the past seven years and his second-worst overall.
Meanwhile, Rohit also struggled, scoring only 42 runs in two games against Bangladesh—his second-worst home series performance in nine years—and 91 runs at an average of 15.16 against New Zealand.
With speculation that the upcoming series against Australia could be crucial for the two players’ careers, questions arose about why they skipped the Duleep Trophy in September. Many India regulars had played in the tournament after being summoned by the BCCI to prepare for the long Test season. Joshi said that the players, not the selectors, should be held responsible for missing the tournament.
“Let’s not put everything on the BCCI. It’s individual responsibility as well. That’s what I want to stress more on. You know that you are going to play three Test matches, it’s going to be on turners, or it’s going to be on slow wickets. So from white-ball format, (there’s need to) go back to Ranji Trophy and play (in order to get match-ready for the red-ball international season). For everything, the blame can’t be put on the BCCI. The players’ responsibility is also there. Players need to take initiative, and should say, ‘Boss, I will go and play Ranji Trophy, I will go and play Duleep Trophy,” he said.
Joshi emphasized that players need to take ownership of their preparation for red-ball cricket, noting the importance of playing in domestic competitions like the Ranji Trophy. He also stressed the need to prioritize domestic cricket to keep India at the top of Test rankings and improve performance against spin bowling.
“If XYZ or our top players do not get runs against spin bowling, what is the way to (improve)? They need to go back and play spin. So why can’t they go back and play domestic cricket? All these players have played Ranji Trophy and then only went on to play Test cricket…It’s not a hard and fast rule; but I think given the circumstances and given the scenarios of WTC, our top players, top six for that matter, should have played one or two (domestic) games prior to the Test series…Nobody is bigger than the game. Everyone faces ups and downs in their career,” he added.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Stay ahead of the latest cricket industry trends by subscribing to our free cricexec “daily briefing” newsletter.
Name of Author: Cricexec Staff
