While the return of India stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, among others, to the domestic circuit has grabbed the eyeballs of cricket experts and fans alike, former India cricketer-turned-pundit Aakash Chopra has drawn out a major talking point. Chopra stated that all the senior players have played only one Ranji game, as stars who played in the first week of games (from January 23) are skipping the second week (from January 30). Only those India stars who missed the first week games are playing in the ongoing week.
Barring Ravindra Jadeja, all senior India regulars who played in the January 23 games are giving the ongoing round a miss.
Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant are some of the big names who participated in the January 23 ties, but are not playing any further.
Chopra criticised this aspect, stating that this has made it seem like playing in Ranji was a token punishment for the players.
"Virat Kohli is playing, but many others are not, like Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal or Shreyas Iyer. Ultimately, all the players have played their token Ranji Trophy match, marked their attendance and left," Chopra said, speaking on his YouTube channel.
"Virat Kohli hadn't played that round, so he is playing now."
"What does it tell you? This (playing Ranji Trophy) was a bit of a punishment posting. But playing first-class cricket shouldn't be a punishment, it should be a privilege," said Chopra.
Following India's 1-3 loss in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, the BCCI had implemented a 10-point guideline, one of which stated that available players must participate in domestic cricket.
However, most of the India regulars have opted to play just one game.
Rohit, Jaiswal, Shreyas, Gill and Pant all lost their respective Ranji games. Ravindra Jadeja, however, starred for Saurashtra and took home the Player of the Match award.