SATIRE
Follow UsThere are around 15 first-class tournaments in world cricket.
FIFTEEN.
Each of them hold their own importance and value to the respective countries. If England have County Championship, divided into different divisions, there is Australia who have Sheffield Shield season to bridge the gap between domestic cricketers and players ready for the international level.
Pakistan have Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, a yearly tournament for youngsters to showcase their talent. And then there is India. Like always, doing things in their own plausible manner: extra.
India have three red-ball tournaments every year. Even when the rest of the world was still recovering from the after-effects of COVID-19, India could still host the domestic tournament in its own bubble.
There’s Ranji Trophy - a tournament known to produce grass-root talents. The tournament's history is quite ancient, it predates Independent India, with the first edition way back in 1934-35. It was named the Cricket Championship of India before being renamed Ranji Trophy. But the fun part doesn’t end there.
It is so prestigious that not all games are telecast. It is so prestigious that top-tier journalists sit around with their legs on the table, having tea with the selectors. Oh wait, hold on, it is the same tournament during which people randomly Swift past the pitch as and when they Dzire. That’s all the non-cricketing reasons, but let’s talk about the cricketing reasons.
Then there’s Duleep Trophy, a tournament that polishes those existing talents into something for the future. There are six zones: South, North, West, North East, East, and Central. And after these two, there’s the Irani Trophy, where Ranji Trophy winners play the best of the rest.
On Friday (June 23), the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the 16-member Test squad for the West Indies series. It again showed why the red-ball tournaments like Duleep Trophy and Ranji Trophy are all quintessential for Indian cricket. Just look at the squad selected, and it will give you a fair idea.
As a matter of fact, he amassed 556 runs in six games at an average of 92.66 in the 2022–23 Ranji Trophy after racking up 982 runs at an average of 122.75 in the 2021–22 Ranji season.
Then, you look at his numbers from Irani Cup and Duleep Trophy. In the one Duleep Trophy encounter, he’s scored 161 runs at a fair clip of 54.57, soaking all the pressure. If that’s still not enough, he’s scored 138 runs in the only innings in the Irani Cup, as his team put up 374 runs on the board.
Then there’s this 27-year-old opener who has a ground named after himself. A pretty decent feat already, isn’t it? He’s scored over 1500 runs, has been part of the India ‘A’ squad regularly and has also made several trips with the national team. He has just five half-centuries and five centuries. Not too much. And a 63 in the Irani Cup in one clash and 182 in the other edition since 2020.
On the other hand, there’s a 26-year-old who has played 11 first-class games since debut and has scored 821 runs, averaging 41.05, with four 50s and three centuries, mostly opening the innings. He hasn’t played in the latest Duleep Trophy, and his only appearance in the tournament was back in the 2019-20 season. He’s also not played the Irani Cup, and for India ‘A’ has a mixed record.
If you are an Indian selector, and red-ball cricket is the big thing in the country, you would naturally tend to pick the ones with better numbers, right?
Such vital suggestions are often ignored. Because the real eye test is not domestic cricket but the Indian Premier League. Why do you think BCCI has invested so much in a league, it is there only to pick the best and best red-ball talents.
Even the other opener, who was selected in the setup, wouldn’t have really made it to the Indian team had he not performed in this glorious tournament - the IPL. If not for his 625 runs and 163.61 strike-rate, little did the selectors would know that his red-ball prowess is top-notch.
I mean, isn’t that the new path to Indian selection, you’d certainly look at India’s now vice-captain and go, thanks to the franchise for making him realise his worth, wouldn’t you?
Had he not scored those 326 runs, with a strike-rate of 172.49, how would the selectors have really known that he is a good red-ball cricketer and could be made the vice-captain? The other opener who was picked in the squad has been an IPL consistent, with 590, 368 and 635 runs. See the pattern?
Now for the main question, why was that red-ball genius of a cricketer ignored? Simple, in his last 10 IPL innings, all he has managed to score is 144 runs, and this year, he had an underwhelming strike rate of 85.48. And the opener, who was ignored, didn’t even earn himself an IPL contract.
Another day, another prestigious red-ball tournament will be played in India, but only yet again to be overshadowed by the IPL carnival because Indian selections are made that way.
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To that batter who scored 2000 plus domestic runs,
You are a simpleton.
You haven’t understood the basics of red-ball cricket.
Go and perform in the IPL.
Otherwise, your chances are as good as mine to making to the Indian team.
(Satire or not, it is for the Indian selectors to decide because I still haven’t played a single edition of the IPL)
