A few days after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) excluded Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan from central contracts list for players for ignoring board's directive to play Ranji Trophy, former batting icon Sachin Tendulkar shed light on the important of playing India's prestigious domestic tournament.
The youngsters prioritizing T20 leagues, especially the Indian Premier League (IPL) over domestic cricket has been a topic of debate of late. Wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan opted out of Jharkand's final Ranji Trophy fixture against Rajasthan and instead, started training for the upcoming IPL season with Pandya brothers - Hardik and Krunal at Kiran More Academy in Baroda.
Shreyas Iyer, on the other, returned to Ranji Trophy for the recently concluded semifinal between Mumbai and Tamil Nadu after he was dropped from the Test squad for the ongoing Test series against England due to poor form.
Sachin Tendulkar recalls playing for Mumbai in Ranji Trophy
Taking to his X handle (formerly Twitter), Sachin Tendulkar penned a lengthy note to congratulate his state team Mumbai for reaching the Ranji Trophy final. He also his reminisced his days of playing for Mumbai in India's most prestigious tournament.
"The Ranji Trophy semi-finals have been riveting! @MumbaiCricAssoc’s march into the finals was aided by a brilliant batting recovery, while the other semi-final hangs in the balance going into the last day - Madhya Pradesh need 90+ runs to win, Vidarbha need 4 wickets." Tendulkar wrote on X.
"Throughout my career, I remained passionate about playing for Mumbai whenever I had the opportunity. Growing up, we had almost 7-8 India players in our dressing room, and it was fun to play alongside them,” he added.
Sachin Tendulkar was a stalwart for Mumbai in first-class cricket, having scored 9677 runs, including 33 centuries and 41 fifties, at an average of 57.6 in 118 matches. Tendulkar played his last first-class match for Mumbai against against Haryana before playing his final international match in a Test against West Indies in 2013.
Tendulkar on importance of youngsters playing domestic cricket
In the same tweet, Sachin Tendulkar highlighted the importance of Team India players playing in domestic cricket, especially Ranji Trophy. He added that playing domestic cricket would help the youngsters raise their quality of play.
"When India players turn up for their domestic teams, it raises the quality of play for youngsters and sometimes new talent is identified. It also gives the national players a chance to sometimes rediscover the basics." former India captain wrote on X.
The Ranji Trophy has been serving as a platform for rising stars to discover their talents and make it to the national team. However, the rise of T20 leagues led to diminishing the significance and value of India's most prestigious domestic tournament.
