Follow UsIndia ODI and Test captain Rohit Sharma shed light on why star players, especially him, have not been able to play domestic red-ball cricket for nearly a decade.
The topic of players ignoring domestic cricket was brought up at the end of India’s humiliating 1-3 loss in the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25, right after an unprecedented whitewash at home by New Zealand.
India head coach Gautam Gambhir had also advocated playing domestic cricket as the only way to get into India's Test team.
“[In the] last 6-7 years, if you look at our calendar, we haven't been sitting home for 45 days when cricket is going on,” Rohit said on January 18 (Saturday), during a press conference to announce India’s squad for the Champions Trophy 2025.
“For me personally, Since I've started playing Test cricket regularly, which was 2019, you hardly get time. When you play international cricket regularly, you need time off, just to refresh,” added the Indian skipper.
However, Rohit last played a first-class match in Indian domestic cricket in 2016, three years before becoming an all-format player and India’s vice-captain. To date, Rohit has appeared in 61 First-Class games at the domestic level and scored 4986 runs in 93 innings at an amazing average of 59.35.
In List-A cricket, Rohit played 68 matches with his last game coming in 2018 for Mumbai. He has an average of 37.18 playing various teams including India A, Mumbai, West Zone and Challenger Trophy sides India Red and India Green.
However, Rohit, 38, also clarified that players, who are not playing international cricket and are free from injury, usually do play domestic cricket. If they don’t, then they must.
“You do get time when IPL finishes when nothing happens after that. Our domestic season begins in October and ends in March. Guys who are not playing all formats and when there's domestic cricket happening, they can play,” he said.
Rohit also confirmed that he will be playing his first Ranji Trophy game in 10 years as he nodded to be part of Mumbai's playing 11 for their first match of the second leg of the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 against Jammu Kashmir, starting January 23 at the Bandra Kurla Complex Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy in Mumbai.
Ajit Agarkar, India's chief selector, also part of the press conference, echoed Rohit’s views and confirmed that most of the Indian players, not part of the England T20Is, will play the upcoming rounds of the Ranji Trophy 2024-25.
“Most of the guys will be playing in the Ranji Trophy shortly unless they are injured,” Agarkar said.