The Board of Control for Cricket in India has necessitated the participation of players who are not in the Indian team and not at the National Cricket Academy to play the next round of the Ranji Trophy, Cricbuzz reported. The decision comes after a few Indian players seemingly waiting for the Indian Premier League and not playing for their state teams in idle time.
The report added that the Indian Board has sent an email to the players regarding this and the players are mandated to join their state teams for the upcoming round of the Ranji Trophy matches from February 16. The likes of Ishan Kishan, Krunal Pandya and Deepak Chahar have not participated in their state teams despite not being part of the International setup. This is an indirect message to those and other players as well.
"Players cannot simply prioritize international cricket or the IPL. They must make themselves available for domestic cricket and honour their commitments to their respective state teams," a BCCI official said as quoted by the website.
Recently, Ishan Kishan was seen training in Baroda with Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya after taking a break from the Indian team. Kishan took a break ahead of the South Africa Test series and has since been away from the Indian team and also from his state side.
Indian head coach Rahul Dravid had also confirmed that Kishan needs to play some cricket to come back into the Indian team. "Whenever he is ready, I didn’t say he has to play domestic cricket, I said whenever he is ready, he needs to play some cricket and come back. The choice is his. We are not forcing him to do anything. We are in touch with him, it is not that we have not been in touch. He has not yet started playing right so at the moment it is not something we can consider. Because you know he maybe he is not ready. He decides when he wants to be ready. We have got options with Rishabh injured and stuff. I am sure the selectors will weight all options," Dravid said on Kishan after the second Test against England.
Notably, Avesh Khan has also not been picked in the squad for the remaining three Tests and he was not part of Madhya Pradesh's game against Baroda in the Ranji Trophy on February 9.
