Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has questioned the BCCI for allowing the likes of Shikhar Dhawan and MS Dhoni to skip domestic cricket ahead of a hectic season that will end with the all important World Cup.
Shikhar Dhawan is currently spending time with his family in Melbourne after the T20I series against Australia. The southpaw is not a part of the Test squad for the upcoming series after being dropped from the team after the team following his poor performance in England. On the other hand, Dhoni has retired from the longest format of the game. The former India skipper has not played any competitive game since the ODI series against the West Indies ended on November 1.
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Dhawan and Dhoni are likely to be seen in action next when India takes on Australia in the three-match ODI series, starting next month. Following that India will tour New Zealand, play Australia at home before flying out to England for the World Cup.
And the decision of the players to not play domestic cricket has baffled Sunil Gavaskar. He went on to say that the BCCI and selectors should be questioned for letting the players get away without playing domestic cricket.
“We shouldn’t ask Dhawan and Dhoni ‘Why you are not playing domestic cricket?’. We should, in fact, ask the BCCI and selectors why are they allowing players to skip domestic cricket when they are not on national duty,” Gavaskar told India Today.
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“If the Indian team has to do well, players have to be in prime form and for that they have to play cricket,” he added.
Gavaskar further said that he would like to see both the players especially Dhoni play the Ranji Trophy. Dhoni has been criticism for quite some time now for his poor returns with the bat. With age not on his side, time is running out for the World Cup-winning skipper. And Gavaskar believes slogging out in the domestic arena would be of big help.
“He (Dhoni) didn’t play the T20Is against Australia, before that he didn’t play the West Indies Tests, and then he is not playing the Test series against Australia. So, he last played in October (November 1) and will next play in January, which is a huge gap. But if he doesn’t do well on tours of Australia and New Zealand, then there will be more questions asked on his place in the World Cup.
“As you grow older and if there is a gap in your cricket, your reflexes will slow down. If you play any form of cricket at the domestic level, you get an opportunity to play long innings, which serves as a good practice for you,” Gavaskar added.