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As the likes of Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal, etc. joined their respective Ranji Trophy sides, a few others like Virat Kohli and KL Rahul gave the round a miss due to 'injury issues'. A host of senior Team India stars marked their return to domestic cricket after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) issued a 10-point diktat, all but mandating domestic cricket participation. Kohli and Rahul, who didn't join their teams in the last round, cited 'injury concerns' as the reason behind their absence.
Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, however, raised suspicion on Kohli and Rahul's 'injury concerns', since they didn't report to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) over the said issues, as is the norm for BCCI-contracted players.
In his column for Sportstar, Gavaskar wondered if Rahul, Kohli and Mohammed Siraj would go on to play for their respective state teams in the next Ranji Trophy round, beginning January 30. He also wonders what action would the BCCI take against players who decide to give this round a miss too.
"It would be interesting to see if KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, and Virat Kohli, who didn't play in last week's round of Ranji Trophy matches, will play the next round," he said.
Gavaskar feels players who gave the previous Ranji Trophy round a miss might have done so because of non-injury reasons, even though they claimed to have been battling injuries.
"More interesting would be what action the BCCI takes if they don't play. Were they injured? Getting a medical certificate for an 'injury' is child's play, and if they are injured, did they go to the NCA for treatment and recovery, as Nitish Reddy was sent the moment he had that side strain?
"Isn't that the practice for the BCCI-contracted players, that as soon as there's an injury, they have to report to the NCA, and only after the BCCI experts there certify them as fit can they resume playing for India? For all we know, these players might have opted out of the earlier games for non-injury reasons. We shall soon find out," he wrote in the column.