When Sachin Tendulkar weighed in on BCCI's diktat for national players to play domestic cricket

Sachin Tendulkar. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

India's legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar on Tuesday said playing Ranji Trophy provides national team players an opportunity to go back to basics and also elevate the level of domestic cricket. The Board of Control for Cricket in India made it compulsory for national team players to play domestic cricket whenever they are not on national duty.

BCCI excluded Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from its central contract for the year 2024 due to ignorance of the board's diktat to play in Ranji trophy games.

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"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," Tendulkar posted 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," Tendulkar added.

Ishan Kishan opted out of the Indian squad during the South Africa tour citing personal reasons. Later, he was told by BCCI to play Ranji Trophy games for his state Jharkhand which he ignored. He instead started the preparations for IPL 2024.

On the other hand, Shreyas Iyer did not make himself available for Mumbai's Ranji Trophy quarterfinals against Baroda but somehow featured in the semi-finals against Tamil Nadu.

Former Indian batsman Tendulkar feels that national players playing for their state teams will generate more interest in domestic cricket.

"With top notch players participating in domestic tournaments, over a period of time, fans will also start following and supporting their domestic teams much more. Wonderful to see @BCCI give equal priority to domestic cricket."

Mumbai have qualified for their 48th Ranji Trophy final. The 41-time champions will take on either Vidarbha or Madhya Pradesh, who are engaged in a thrilling semifinal, in the summit clash.

"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 added.

(With PTI Inputs)