Behind the Test routine: Four domestic red-ball matches between Kohli, Rohit, Rahul, Gill and Pant since 2020 | Cricket news

* In the last four years, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj and KL Rahul have played just four long domestic matches between them.

THE FIGURES speak for themselves. The players who form the core of the Indian Test team hardly plow the domestic pitches, and this lack of red-ball match practice is impacting international results.

On Sunday, the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team handed over the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) to Australia after a decade. The turnaround came months after the team lost 0-3 at home to New Zealand, the first-ever whitewash by a touring team. These two setbacks resulted in an unprecedented scenario where India would miss the final of the World Test Championship.

To avoid further humiliation, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has said India regulars should represent their state units in the longest format of the game. The next round of the Ranji Trophy will take place on January 23. Let's see how many players from this team are playing. If you don't play those matches, then I say Gautam Gambhir will have to make some tough decisions, saying, 'You don't have that commitment, we need commitment, you don't play,'” he said.

India's Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli wait for play to start on day three of the third Test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia. (AP photo)

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a member of the team management said playing domestic cricket cannot address all the shortcomings but it can certainly help Test players get into the rhythm required to play the longest format.

Without playing time in the middle, their play stagnates. The transition from the red ball to the white ball is easy, but when it is the other way around it is a challenge. If you play Ranji games regularly, you will be in the rhythm, the source said.

Last August, then BCCI secretary Jay Shah had warned Team India players of dire consequences if they prioritized the T20 Indian Premier League (IPL) over domestic cricket. Domestic cricket has always been the foundation on which Indian cricket stands and it has never been undervalued in our vision of the sport, he said in a letter to the contracted players.

But while the big Test stars continued to avoid domestic matches and escape any sanctions, a pair of mid-range cricketers, Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan, lost their central contracts with BCCI.

Former India player Irfan Pathan, in an interaction with Star Sports, called for a cultural change to solve the problem. We have to change the culture. Even the great Sachin Tendulkar played the Ranji Trophy even when he was not required to do so just because he wanted to spend so much time on the field, he said.

The recent 3-1 defeat to Australia in the BGT had plenty of examples showing the 'red ball rust' and white ball habits of Indian cricket.

There was an improper choice of shot. Rishabh Pant repeatedly stepped out with risky blows. Batsmen repeated mistakes that Kohli poked at balls outside the stump. Bowlers were unable to bowl for long periods. Siraj frequently lost the rhythm and Harshit Rana struggled to maintain the intensity. There was a lack of Test temperament, Gill's restlessness at the crease and out, and Rohit Sharma trying to hit white-ball strokes early in his innings.

Apart from Yashasvi Jaiswal, no Indian batsman has faced 200 or more balls in a knock on the tour. Only two batsmen managed more than 150 balls (Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy). Gill's best was 51; Pant took 100 or more balls only once, and more than 50 only twice; Rohit consumed 110 balls in five outings.

Apart from the century in Perth, Kohli did not last 100 balls in any of his eight other knocks. Jaiswal faced the most number of balls by an Indian batsman (732). To draw a parallel, Cheteshwar Pujara devoured 1,258 in 7 innings in 2018/19; Rahul Dravid's total was 1,203 during the 2003-04 tour. Pujara has also absorbed 928 deliveries in 2020-21. India's best moments in Australia this century have been shaped by the granite of two defensive strongmen.

The just-concluded series was not an aberration. In the three Tests against New Zealand last year, Team India managed just one hundred and seven half-centuries. Even more damning, Rachin Ravindra negotiated the turners better than any Indian batsman, and Kiwi captain Tom Latham showed more batting wisdom in the Test match than the top-order hosts. Batting time, occupying the crease and grinding the opposition bowlers into dust seem like virtues of a bygone era. Also collapsing the Indian batting has succeeded 34/7 against Australia, 46 all out, 54/7 and 53/6 against New Zealand.

Jasprit Bumrah of India celebrates the wicket of Mitchell Marsh of Australia during play on the fourth day of the fourth cricket Test between Australia and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, December 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

Bumrah, the bright spot

The problems do not only occur on the battle front. Jasprit Bumrah's inspired display of fast bowling covered up the cracks in the bowling department. But there are flaws. None of his minions could sustain their intensity for an entire period, forgetting an innings, match or series. Siraj was inconsistent, Rana betrayed that he was not ready to be a Test regular. There was no workhorse in the form of Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma or Shardul Thakur in the 2020-21 series, the ones who could bowl tirelessly, against the wind, up the slope.

But the Indian team seems suspicious of domestic workers. Sarfaraz Khan and Abhimanyu Eeaswaran, part of the India tour party in Australia, the two most consistent batsmen on the domestic circuit in the last five years, barely managed a hit in the nets, let alone a Test match. Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna, who had been regulars for half a decade, were overlooked for the top ten Rana in Perth. Such cases give the impression that team management no longer rewards housework.

On the other hand, those in team management argue that top-tier players are not coming through the system as often as they used to. In the past, when Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman were part of the Test squad, there were the likes of Amol Muzumdar and S Sharath who scored almost 9,000-10,000 runs without a Test limit. Now we don't have one player who scores consistently, the referee said.

For example, in the last three editions of the Ranji Trophy, only two batsmen have featured twice in the top-10 run-getters. Similarly, we had just one triple hundred and twelve double centuries last season. In 2019-20, there were three triple centuries and 25 double hundreds.

A system that has consistently produced Test-class players cannot become dysfunctional overnight. However, it would certainly benefit from the return of stars, just as domestic cricket could also revive the fading brilliance of the stars.