A closer look at Thursday’s BCCI release, which announced the squads for the six-match white ball series in Sri Lanka, contained a statement that served as an unambiguous directive towards international players’ participation in domestic competitions.
“The BCCI will continue to monitor player availability and participation in the upcoming domestic cricket season, 2024-25,” the release stated.
The message was loud and clear for all international stars to remain available for domestic competitions when they are not on India duty. The 2024-25 domestic season begins in September with the Duleep Trophy, and the statement stands as a mandate from the new head coach Gautam Gambhir, who has been vocal about players featuring in all three formats and honing their skills accordingly.
“I’m a very strong believer in one thing, that if you’re good, you should be playing all the three formats. I’ve never been a big believer that injury management, you get injured, you go get recovered. As simple as it gets,” the new head coach had recently remarked.
“Injuries are part of a sportsman’s life. And if you’re playing all the three formats, you get injured, you go back, get recovered, but you should be playing all the three formats. I am not a big believer in identifying people that we’re going to keep him for Test matches or other formats. We’re going to manage his injury and workload and stuff. Professional cricketers, you’ve got a very small span when you’re playing for your country and you want to play as much as you can. And when you’re in very good form, go ahead and play all the three formats,” Gambhir had recently said.
The BCCI’s push for international players to take domestic cricket seriously has its roots in the controversial ouster of Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan from the list of BCCI-contracted players, after the duo skipped matches for their respective state sides.
This means that the BCCI will not only keep a tap on domestic performers but also monitor the participation of international players, when not on India duty. The matter was also discussed during the selection committee meeting held on Thursday.
Meanwhile, contrary to reports of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli skipping the ODI series on the Sri Lanka tour, the duo have confirmed their availability for the three-match rubber. With India slated to play only six ODIs (three against Sri Lanka next month and three against England next year) in the lead-up to the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025, both Rohit and Virat were spoken to by the BCCI for their participation.
However, the selection committee decided to rest pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah from the tour as part of the workload management.
The Indian team will tour Sri Lanka for three T20Is and as many ODIs in the brief white-ball series. The three T20Is will be played on July 27, 28 and 30 in Pallekele followed by the ODIs on August 2, 4 and 7, in Colombo.