Ranji Trophy 2024-25 (Representational Image, Source: X/BCCIDomestic)
India’s domestic list-a tournament, Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26 has become the ‘talk of the town’ in the Indian cricketing diaspora. It all happened due to the presence of India’s two modern-day batting greats, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. The fans, experts and former cricketers, everyone on social media, is talking about the domestic tournament.
However, this sudden interest in the Vijay Hazare Trophy has also raised a question on the Indian cricketing mindset. It reflects the ‘star obsession’ among the Indian cricket fans and especially the people who talk about cricket in India.
The less interest of fans and even the management in the big domestic First-Class tournament like Ranji Trophy shows how closely they’re invested in the traditional format of the game. This also becomes evident with the management’s decisions when they overlook performers in the First-Class cricket while picking India’s Test team.
This approach of using domestic cricket as per ‘convenience’ seems to severely affect its main purpose. Besides that, the recent hype and talks about domestic cricket also looks quite late in the picture.
Not picking domestic performers in Test side: Double standards at peak
After winning the two-match Test series against West Indies two months ago, India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir came up with his views. He spoke about the importance of domestic cricket for the players to be game ready to feature for India in Tests.
“Sometimes it is difficult, but that is what professionalism is all about. Try and use the days to the best of their ability because we know that there are very quick turnarounds, especially from here to one-day cricket, then T20 cricket, and then, what, after four days, back to Test cricket,” said Gambhir after win against WI in the second Test.
“But again, the guys who are just part of Test cricket, I think for them to prepare and play domestic cricket is very, very important. Rather than just going to NCA (COE) and working on their skills, I think the more they play for the Test matches, it is very important for the team,” he added later.
These remarks from a man of head coach’s stature lands in the radius of hypocrisy if taken on the dissection table. It becomes evident with the approach of management led by him as they have been seen ignoring the brilliant performers in domestic cricket.
Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sarfaraz Khan: The most-talked about case studies
The list of overlooked domestic performers in First-Class cricket includes the likes of Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sarfaraz Khan as both have been giving their best in the domestic circuit but end up without a spot in India’s Test playing XI. However, Sarfaraz got a chance to make Test debut but was dropped later despite a decent run of form.
Sarfaraz Khan has impressed so far in his Test career, scoring 371 runs in 11 innings of the six Tests, with an average of 37.10. He has also scored a century and three half-centuries to his name, including an unbeaten appearance.
Before that, he had some excellent numbers to his name in First-Class cricket, scoring 4863 runs in 90 innings with an average of 63.15, with 16 centuries and 16 half-centuries. Even after these performances, he hasn’t been picked in the senior side after getting dropped from the Tests.
Speaking of Abhimanyu Easwaran, he has been picked in India’s senior squad but never got a chance to play in Tests. In his 12-year-long illustrious First-Class career, Easwaran has scored 8136 runs in 187 innings, with an average of 47.85, smashing nine centuries and 24 half-centuries. But he is still waiting for his debut.
Sai Sudharsan and Nitish Kumar Reddy: The forced inclusions
What makes management’s ‘prefer domestic’ approach more critical and confusing is their choices to pick Sai Sudharsan for number top-order batting position. It furthermore continues the selection of Nitish Kumar Reddy for the role of all-rounder.
Sai Sudharsan has scored only 302 runs in 11 Test innings, with an average of 27.45, hitting two half-centuries. The management’s mindset behind keeping him in the mix despite his failure to translate the performance in Tests seems to go beyond the cricketing logic.
Similarly in the case of Nitish Kumar Reddy, he was picked for the national side despite his ‘average’ numbers as an all-rounder in First-Class cricket. He has scored just 1327 runs in 61 innings, with an average of 23.69, with two centuries and three half-centuries.
Conclusion: Where does this convenient approach lead to?
So, what this convenient approach leaves the fans with is a straight question to the management, “where does this lead to and what have they achieved with this so far?”. The answer is quite simple, this mindset of preferring domestic cricket as per the convenience will lead the Indian cricket to nowhere.
Besides that, management doesn't seem to have anything solid to display as their achievement with this method of choosing players for the national side in Tests. They have brought nothing except instability in India’s Test side, which they have been covering under the cushion of ‘transition’ excuses’.
