BCCI wants star players to play more domestic cricket: Reports

Various reports suggest that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) wants their star cricketers to make themselves available for domestic cricket moving forward. 

This is a reiteration of a message from Jay Shah, the BCCI Secretary, who earlier this year said that even star players should feature in domestic cricket competitions whenever they are free from national duty. However, the regulation isn’t mandatory for Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah. 

If implemented, the message can increase star value in the Duleep Trophy, the first tournament of the 2024/25 domestic cricket season in India. The Zonal competition is supposed to start on September 5. India won’t be playing any cricket during that week. As scheduled, the Men in Blue don’t have any cricket scheduled between their last white-ball fixture in Sri Lanka (August 7) and the first Test against Bangladesh (starting September 19). 

While Rohit, Kohli and Bumrah are exempted from playing domestic competitions, the trio can opt to feature in the Duleep Trophy for their various zones for some practice before getting back to Test cricket. Kohli, especially, last played Tests in January 2024, against South Africa in Cape Town. 

The message from Jay Shah early this year came in the wake of several senior players opting out of Ranji Trophy. Shreyas Iyer, after being released from the squad post the second Test against England, opted to rest citing confusion around his back injury. He was later spotted in Kolkata Knight Riders’  camp before the 2024 season of the Indian Premier League. 

Meanwhile, Ishan Kishan, who made his debut in 2023, opted out from the tour of South Africa in December and January, and returned to the cricket field during the DY Patil T20 Cup ahead of IPL 2024.

Consequently, both players were omitted from BCCI’s list of centrally contracted players despite being a part of India’s 50-over World Cup squad only a few months ago. Iyer later played in the Ranji Trophy semi-final and the final, both of which Mumbai won to add to their trophy cabinet. 

A senior BCCI source told PTI that there will be no zonal committee to pick Duleep Trophy teams. Instead, the national selectors will take the onus. 

"This time there is no zonal selection committee for Duleep Trophy. Only the national selection committee will pick Duleep teams. All Test team contenders will be picked. For Rohit, Virat and Bumrah, it will be their choice if they want to play or not," the source said.

Hence, acknowledging BCCI's guidelines can mark a return for Iyer and Kishan in the Test setup at some point soon. 

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