New Delhi. Batting great Sunil Gavaskar on Sunday (January 5) urged the Indian batsmen to play in the Ranji Trophy without any excuses so as to overcome the technical shortcomings which have led to the team losing two consecutive series against New Zealand and Australia. Gavaskar said that the disappointing performance of Indian batsmen at home against New Zealand and in the recently concluded series against Australia is worrying. India had to face a 0-3 clean sweep against New Zealand at home while the team had to face a 1-3 defeat in Australia.
Gavaskar told ‘Star Sports’, “The next round of Ranji Trophy is on 23rd January. Let’s see how many players of this team play. There should be no excuse for not playing. If you do not play in those matches, then Gautam Gambhir will have to take some tough decisions against those players who are not available for Ranji Trophy. Gambhir should tell the players that you are not playing. do what you gotta do. But you cannot come back to the Test team for Indian cricket.
“What I saw were technical shortcomings,” he said. If you are making the same mistakes and I am not just talking about this series. I am also talking about the New Zealand series. What did you do against New Zealand in India? So I am interested who will play in the Ranji Trophy matches on 23rd January? I want to see this. Because at that time there will be T20 matches against England. But will those who are not playing T20 play Ranji Trophy matches or not?
FIRST PUBLISHED : January 5, 2025, 6:17 PM IST