The former opening batter and captain of the Indian team, Sunil Gavaskar, doesn’t agree with the claims of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah, regarding both their senior members of the side, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, getting inured possibly for playing in the upcoming season of the Duleep Trophy 2024.
A few reports recently expressed that both of these experienced players of the Blue Brigade could turn up for the upcoming domestic event to prepare themselves for the five-Tests at home in a long Test season, as many of the other senior players are doing to test themselves against the quality spinners.
But later, Jay Shah revealed that none of Kohli and Rohit would be part of the tournament’s opening clash as the management didn’t want to injure the batters. Besides them, the veteran spin all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin won’t be part of the game, while they have extended the break for Jasprit Bumrah, who is likely to make a return for the New Zealand series.
“It doesn’t make sense to add to Virat and Rohit’s load by asking them to play domestic cricket. They run the risk of getting injured.” The BCCI secretary told the reporters on ‘Times of India’.
“The muscle memory weakens somewhat”- Sunil Gavaskar
The former opening batter of the side, Sunil Gavaskar, didn’t agree with the thought process Shah, as he raised concerns over both Rohit and Kohli’s absence from the Duleep Trophy squad, pointing out that both of the seniors would be playing the Bangladesh series without any match practice.
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“The selectors have not picked the skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for the Duleep Trophy so they will most likely go into the Bangladesh Test series without much match practice.” Sunil Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-day.
Mohammad Shami has been recovering from his ankle injury, which has kept him out of action since the end of last year’s home ODI World Cup 2023, while Hardik Pandya isn’t prepared to be back for India or the domestic side in the longest format of the game.
Even though these two decisions along with the importance of managing Bumrah can be justified, the decision to give both Rohit and Virat an extended break of 10 days, despite their poor form against spinners, has raised a few eyebrows.
The veteran batter has stated that when a player hit their mid-30s, it becomes quite difficult for them to maintain a high standard as their muscle memory gets weak with every passing week, which seeks the need to play regular cricket.
“While it’s understandable that somebody like Jasprit Bumrah with his delicate back needs to be handled with care, the batters could have done with some batting time out in the middle.” Sunil Gavaskar penned down in his column.
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“Once a player hits the mid-thirties in any sport, then regular competition will help him maintain the high standards he has set. When there’s a longish gap, then, the muscle memory weakens somewhat, and to get back to the high standards from earlier is not easy.” The Mumbai-born batter concluded.
Meanwhile, the former Indian captain played his last Test match in January as he missed the home Test series against England due to personal reasons, while he last featured in a Test match in March. The two-match Test series against Bangladesh starts on September 19 at the iconic MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.