If Ranji fees can be doubled or tripled, lot more people will play: Gavaskar
MUMBAI: Days after the BCCI announced an incentive system for players in Test cricket, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar on Friday urged the board to bring in something similar into domestic cricket.
With increased scanner on players pulling out of playing domestic cricket, especially the Ranji Trophy, Gavaskar said such a move would encourage more representation in domestic cricket and lesser pull outs.
“I think what (India head coach) Rahul Dravid said, when it (BCCI i n c e n t i v e ) wa s announced in Dharamsala, that he would like to call it a reward. That is a wonderful thing by the BCCI to reward those who would be playing but I would also request the BCCI to ensure that the feeder to the Test team, which is the Ranji Trophy, that is also looked after,” Gavaskar said here in an event to mark the completion of 25 years of The Champs Foundation.
“(If) the Ranji Trophy fees can be doubled or tripled, certainly there’ll be a lot more people playing the Ranji Trophy, (a) lot less pull outs from the Ranji Trophy, because if the fees of playing a Ranji Trophy match is a good fee there will be less people pulling out for various reasons.
“They will all be wanting to play with the slab system — every 10 first-class matches you get that much more so I would request the BCCI to look at that aspect as well,” he added.
Gavaskar added that “every cricketer must never forget” that domestic cricket forms the foundation for growth in the Indian cricket ecosystem.
Players like Mumbai pacer Shardul Thakur have spoken about the cramped scheduling, with only three-day gap between Ranji matches this season. “In the three-day gap what happens is that there’s probably a day in between in travel. During travel, there’s no time to go to the physio and maybe take his help to get fit from a niggle. So, probably there should be a little bit of gap so that the player has got adequate time,” Gavaskar said.