The former wicket-keeper batter of Pakistan, Rashid Latif, has claimed that the senior batters of India, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli, had been targeted for their red-ball form in recent times and had been forced to play the domestic games ahead of the crucial white-ball assignments.
The new rules of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have forced the senior players to be available for domestic events for selection of the national side. Their captain, Rohit Sharma, alongside their opening batter, Yashasvi Jaiswal, turned up for Mumbai in the penultimate group-stage game of the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 at the Sharad Pawar Academy BKC against Jammu and Kashmir.
Shubman Gill led Punjab against Karnataka at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. He failed in the first innings but roared with a second-innings century, even though they went on to lose the contest heavily. Rishabh Pant didn’t enjoy a great week either for Delhi, who was blown away against the left-arm spin bowler of Saurashtra, Ravindra Jadeja.
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The members of India’s Test squad suffered a heavy defeat in Australia for the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 by a margin of 3-1. Kohli missed the sixth round of the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 due to a neck injury, which he picked up during the fifth Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
Rashid Latif criticizes BCCI for forcing India’s senior players to play domestic cricket
The former wicket-keeper batter of Pakistan, Rashid Latif, has reckoned that both Rohit and Kohli should focus on the white-ball assignments for the upcoming bilateral series at home against England, followed by the Champions Trophy 2025, scheduled to take place on February 19.
Latif claimed that, due to the busy international calendar, the players don’t get much time to play domestic cricket. The veteran went on to say that the star duo of India played the ODI and T20 World Cup in 2023 and 2024, respectively, without playing domestic cricket.
“There is no time for players to play domestic cricket due to the packed international calendar. If needed, they should play domestic cricket, but due to the targeting of Rohit (Sharma) and Virat (Kohli), they’re forcing everyone to play domestic cricket. In the past, barring Sachin Tendulkar, others have not played much domestic cricket.” The former Pakistan wicket-keeper addressed this in an interaction with IANS.
“Rohit and Virat have won the T20 World Cup and reached the final of the ODI World Cup without playing domestic cricket. They will next play the ODI series against England, so they should prepare for it as white-ball is a different game.” Rashid Latif explained.
India will start their ODI series against the Jos Buttler-led side on February 06 in Nagpur, just two days after the scheduled end of the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 game between Delhi and Railways, which Virat Kohli will be part of.
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The blue brigade will start their campaign for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 against Bangladesh on February 20 at the Dubai International Stadium, the venue for India’s all-group games, including the final and semifinal. They will face Pakistan in the most anticipated clash before ending against New Zealand.
They are currently involved against England in the five-match T20I series. The Suryakumar Yadav-led side won the first two games at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai to take a 2-0 lead in the series. They have been clinical with both bat and ball in both the fixtures.