Follow UsAfter Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy semi-final match against Tamil Nadu, all-rounder Shardul Thakur stated that playing ten first-class matches, with barely a couple of days of gap between matches, created a big issue for players. The sentiment was echoed by Tamil Nadu skipper R Sai Kishore as well, who believed that pacers failed to recuperate for the next round matches due to a minimum gap between two rounds.
Indian Head Coach Rahul Dravid took cognizance of the fact and stated that the board must take a look at the opinion of the players and also need to take a fresh look at the domestic season is structured.
"I've heard the same as well. I saw some of the comments Shardul, I think, made. And in fact, some of the boys who've come into the team as well, also comment about how tough the domestic schedule is, especially in a country like India with the amount of travel involved. So yeah, we need to hear the players. That's a very important thing in a lot of these things," Dravid said in the post-match press conference.
"You need to hear your players because they are the ones going through the grind and putting their bodies on the line, and if there are enough voices saying that, then yeah, I think there's some need to look at it and see how we can manage our schedules.
In the 2023-24 season, the Duleep Trophy kick-started in June. While many players appreciated the fact that it was played in rather good weather in Bengaluru, the season has been non-stop since then, with many players already participating in more than 12 first-class games in total. In addition to that, traveling in a country like India becomes the stuff of nightmares.
"It's a long season already in India. It's tough. The Ranji Trophy is a long season, and if you add a Duleep and a Deodhar on top of that...Last year, if I'm not mistaken, the Duleep started in June, it was just a month after the IPL, and your problem in this situation is your best players, the guys who are pushing for selection for India, are the ones that end up playing the most cricket.
“Because they keep getting selected at the next level, more and more, and their teams are the ones probably who are playing the semi-finals and the finals, or that kind of situation. They are the ones who end up playing a lot of cricket, and you also want them to be playing for India and India A tours, so it can get quite tough on a lot of those boys, and maybe we need to hear them out.
"Maybe we need to re-look and see whether some of the tournaments that we are conducting are necessary in this day and age or if they are not necessary. There needs to be an all-round review [involving] coaches and players, especially the guys who are part of the domestic circuit."