Indian internationals playing domestic cricket

[Gunner_Mania]

Just watching Finn & Cook playing in 40 over, KP was playing yesterday. When was the last time our superstars played for their domestic teams? I'm not even talking about the Sachins the Dravids or the Dhonis. Do Sehwag, Raina, Rohit, Ishant and the likes play domestic? Statsguru experts- is there way to find this on CI?

[kabira]

I think they all play when they get an opportunity, which is rarely. Domestic season will kick soon but Aussies will be here and then Kiwis, so no way they going to play any games.

[Chandan]

Read an article in Hindu on the same topic: Need to revise Ranji Trophy schedule Makarand Waingankar Performance in the Ranji Trophy has always been considered for national selection. But Ranji Trophy is losing its sheen because of the tight schedule or the attitude of top players. There is a need to revise the schedule so that players are available for their respective States. In 22 years of first class cricket Sachin Tendulkar has played only 33 Ranji Trophy matches. In 10 years Rahul Dravid has played 100 Tests, but he has played only 10 Ranji Trophy matches. From the year 2000 to 2004 he didn't play a single Ranji Trophy match and in 2005 he played only one Ranji Trophy match. But he is not known to avoid any Ranji Trophy matches. There's more; in 18 years of his first class career Anil Kumble has never bowled to Tendulkar in a Ranji Trophy match and Javagal Srinath in 16 years bowled to Tendulkar only in the India nets. In 12 long years of first class career Harbhajan Singh didn't play Ranji Trophy for seven years! So India's best bowlers — Kumble, Srinath and Harbhajan — hasn't bowled to the top batsman Sachin Tendulkar in the national championship. How do we then expect the standard of Indian cricket to improve? Australian system We should analyse the Australian system. In 2004, when Glenn McGrath declared himself fit and available for the national team, he was politely told by the selectors to play club and State cricket to prove match fitness. It's perfectly understandable for a top player to give Ranji Trophy a miss during the season but some players have very conveniently avoided playing domestic tournaments citing fitness or personal problems very frequently. In the season of 1979-80 India played 13 Tests — six against Australia followed by six against Pakistan — in India during the winter and one Golden Jubilee Test against England but the Indian players also played Ranji Trophy matches in between Test matches. Some international players avoid playing for their companies. One of the fast bowlers of the Indian team hasn't turned up to play for his employers since the time he joined them. And hardly anyone plays club cricket. Sunil Gavaskar, after a gruelling England tour of 1979, was in the maidan tent an hour before the start of the play in the monsoon tournament (Kanga League) in Mumbai. The former Mumbai opener Sudhakar Adhikari tied the nuptial knot at nine in the morning, and rushed to play the Ranji Trophy. He scored a century and returned to the wedding hall in the evening for his reception. When international players take part in domestic cricket, youngsters get to learn. Teenager Dilip Vengsarkar learned more about batting watching Gavaskar from the other end for Dadar Union than listening to a dozen coaches. Former India opener Madhav Apte, who toured the West Indies in 1953, played ‘A' division tournaments for 55 years until the age of 71, facing Mumbai Ranji Trophy bowlers without a helmet. The solution is simple. Like Australian cricket, make playing domestic cricket mandatory irrespective of the stature of a player. Sadly the stalwarts seem to have forgotten that when they were teenagers they benefited immensely by playing with cricketing icons. The juniors in the Indian team are struggling because they haven't played with the seniors in club or State cricket. But having said all this, have we not agreed that BCCI has been bad at scheduling international matches as well as domestic matches? Have not not agreed already how IPL has stuffed our domestic calender where important tournaments like Deodhar Trophy have been reduced to a joke only? When will the Indians take part in the domestic matches? England is lucky that no other country has any noticeable cricket being played when its cricket season is going on. But India, Australia and SA aren't that lucky, more so India where the international players hardly get breathing space between two international assignments!

[Gunner_Mania]

I think it goes back to that age old problem of scheduling. if India have a fixed schedule of Domestic & International fixtures, it helps everybody in planning. I don't know about the Aussies, but I've certainly seen English cricketers play in their domestic games even in the middle of the series if there is along break.

[Sachinism]

Lets not forget why KP is playing for Surrey. Hampshire dumped him because he was not playing any games for them. So I'm sure when Surrey signed him up, they made sure he agreed to play more county games.

[Gunner_Mania]

^ that is the whole point isn't it. Even now he needs to have a county and play for them when England is not playing international. Unlike in India where once you are established in the team, people hardly care about domestic.

[saneindian]

Barring those who play all 3 formats of the game, the others do play doemstic cricket. Dravid and VVS have played a few domestic matches in last 2-3 years, Ishant played a few matches as did Yuvraj. Also the other thing is the selection of 15 players for home tests, we should follow the policy of the ECB of selecting only 12 players for a test and then releasing the guy not in the final 11 to play for his state team in the ranji trophy. Likes of Yuvraj, Kaif earlier and Raina, Rohit now a days have spent far too much time sitting on bench . Instead they would have been better off playing Ranji Trophy games and developing their game further.

[Karan114]

Good point, saneindian. Of course, distances and logistics make it tougher in India than England (in England, a guy if not in the final XI can drive off to wherever his county is playing and get there within a few hours max) but we should be looking to give the players as much opportunity to actually play FC cricket as possible.

[Fontaine]

^ that is the whole point isn't it. Even now he needs to have a county and play for them when England is not playing international. Unlike in India where once you are established in the team' date=' people hardly care about domestic.[/quote'] You can't play domestic when your rehabbing at the NCA.

[Gunner_Mania]

You can't play domestic when your rehabbing at the NCA.

The injured can rehab, what about the others? I haven't followed India's domestic keenly so I am afraid I don't know which of India's stars have played or play when they are not part of India.

[Dravid]

u expect them to play in dom. after playing in 1 meaningless series after another w/o any break?:hysterical:

[Gunner_Mania]

Is there a site where I can find the domestic stats for Indian players?

[kabira]

^stats guru would have it for sure.

[Ram]

I think it doesn’t make sense to ask someone like Sachin to go play domestic cricket as much as he can (though the man himself would probably want to do it as much as possible, for Mumbai). At this stage of a career, I think we can agree that he doesn’t need domestic matches to hone his game in the off-season. FFS, the man could walk straight from bed to the ground and score a 100. He is at a point where he needs to conserve and preserve his body, not run it ragged with some meaningless match against Saurarshtra. We also know that domestic performances are rarely the yardstick to judge a players’ readiness for international cricket. When Ganguly was dropped from the team in 2005/06, he was constantly playing FC cricket but didn’t score too many runs. But when he got back into the team, he ended 2007 as the leading run-scorer in tests. Same for Sehwag, as well. He was dropped, played FC cricket and struggled to score runs against book-cricket attacks. And because he didn’t score runs in FC cricket, he wasn’t picked for the provision squad for the Aussie tour of 2007/08. But better sense prevailed, he was roped in, selected for Adelaide and the rest as they, is geography. :D But for the other upcoming youngsters like Karthik, Pujara, Rohit, Kohli etc, they have no business spending their off-season cooling their heels and taking vacations to the Mediterranean.

[The Outsider]

Is there a site where I can find the domestic stats for Indian players?

www.cricketarchive.com They have all kinds of matches in their DB, though the search options aren't all that great.

[Sooda]

Like that Hindu article points out...its not really to prove their form and I think it is less for the players themselves and more for the younger guys they play with. How much would Rahane benefit from batting with Tendulkar at the other end? Or heck even having him in the same dressing room. Itd be one hell of a lesson. Or the supposed India fringe bowlers who bowl to our established internationals. Thatd be a good test. It is true that the test 'specialists' have been playing for their states of late tho

[Lord]

nice time to ask the question.Gambhir,Praveen,Munaf,Kohli r playing Corporate trophy now

[saneindian]

nice time to ask the question.Gambhir' date='Praveen,Munaf,Kohli r playing Corporate trophy now[/quote'] Where is Irfan Pathan? Played for Air India last year, not seen anywhere this year :((

[Gunner_Mania]

Wouldn't it have made more sense for Pujara to be playing in the Irani Trophy then warming benches here?

[Sir john]

Wouldn't it have made more sense for Pujara to be playing in the Irani Trophy then warming benches here?

it happens in only asian subcontinent.:hmmm: