India's ODI and T20I specialists advised to avoid Ranji Trophy: Report

Yuzvendra Chahal, leftl, and Jasprit Bumrah (IANS)

New Delhi: Managing workload of cricketers is one of the top priorities of Team India that usually plays more matches than other countries, but to bar players from appearing in the Ranji Trophy, the premier first-class tournament in the domestic circuit, may not go down well with state boards and experts.

According to a report in The Times of India, the Indian team management has for the past year asked its ODI and T20I specialists to not play Ranji Trophy and instead train at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru when they are not on national duty. 

India are currently involved in a three-Test home series against Sri Lanka, which means limited-overs specialists Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav and Dinesh Karthik are waiting for the ODI and T20I leg of the tour next month. 

Of the above, Pandya categorically mentioned that he had asked for rest, but Chahal and Bumrah, TOI reported, have been asked to not play Ranji matches for their state team in order to recover. 

Karthik and Jadhav did not feature in the last round of the ongoing Ranji Trophy due to hip and hand injury, respectively. 

"Chahal had asked for permission to play for Haryana but he was not allowed to do so by the team management. Instead, he was asked to stay back at NCA after the T20I series against New Zealand a fortnight ago," a BCCI official told the newspaper. 

"The idea is to preserve these players. They have been doing well for the ODI team and there's no point in burning them out or risking injuries by playing domestic matches," the source further said.

The report also suggests Chahal and Bumrah are in the running for a place in the Test squad for the tour of South Africa. 

But counter-arguments are being voiced against this move by the team management. 

"After a lot of effort over the years, India players were made to play Ranji Trophy while not playing for the national team and selections were done based on that. The Haryana team management wanted Chahal to play since six players are injured at the moment. Gujarat too needed Bumrah and Patel's services but all of that has been ignored," a top BCCI official was quoted as saying.

Apparently, Yuvraj Singh too has opted out of Punjab's Ranji Trophy squad and is at the NCA trying to get back in shape on the fitness front.