Ranji Trophy and domestic cricket has been a major talking point in the last few weeks. The Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) has made it mandatory for players to take part in domestic tournaments when they are not playing for India or on tours.
In fact, the new mandate issued by the BCCI which contained stringent rules and regulations for the players stated that if a player needs to miss a domestic game, then approval from the chairman of selectors is necessary.
Hence, the new BCCI rule put the spotlight on the big stars like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja and others who hadn’t featured in the Ranji Trophy for many years now. While a few of them have confirmed their availability and will turn up for their respective states, Kohli and Rahul will miss the next round of Ranji Trophy games, owing to niggles.
It was reported that Kohli could make his first appearance in the Ranji Trophy since November 2012. However, neck pain has ruled him out of Delhi’s next game against Saurashtra which is in Rajkot. According to ESPNCricinfo, it is understood that the former India skipper took an injection for the neck issue on the 8th of January and the pain is persistent. He has informed the BCCI medical team about the issue as well.
Meanwhile, Rahul is reported to have elbow trouble which will keep him out of Karnataka’s game against Punjab in Bengaluru. The 32-year-old has not featured in the Ranji Trophy since 2020.
The next round of Ranji games is scheduled to start on the 23rd of January. The following round is scheduled to start on the 30th. However, both Kohli and Rahul are integral members of the ODI team and are set to play the three-match series against England which starts on the 6th of February. Hence, it’ll be interesting to see if they feature in the Ranji round starting on the 30th of January as the turnaround will be pretty tight.
Pant, Gill, Jadeja to feature in the next Ranji Trophy round
Pant has already confirmed his availability for Delhi’s next Ranji game. According to Cricbuzz, he has declined the request to lead the side as he believes he may disrupt the balance of the team for just one match if he leads the side.
Meanwhile, Gill and Jadeja are expected to start for Punjab and Saurashtra respectively. On the other hand, Rohit Sharma trained with the Mumbai Ranji team but his participation remains unclear.
