Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has expressed his frustration over the scheduling of India A fixtures alongside domestic cricket tournaments, especially the Ranji Trophy. Gavaskar asserted that the domestic calendar should be planned more carefully in order to ensure that the Ranji Trophy tournament does not suffer due to overlapping commitments. Notably, the new season of the Ranji Trophy commenced on Sunday, with many players joining their respective state sides. 

However, the opening day clashed with the final one-day match of the India A series against Australia A, that created roadblocks for some players in representing their respective domestic teams. Players like Rajat Patidar, Devdutt Padikkal and Ruturaj Gaikwad remained unavailable for their respective state sides because of their commitments with India A. Gavaskar also stressed that the inclusion of Plate teams in the Ranji Trophy has weakened the competition.

“The standard in the Elite division has levelled to a great extent as can be seen by teams who were not very competitive earlier, now going on to win the Ranji Trophy. That’s most encouraging though with the India international players hardly playing in the domestic competitions, it’s difficult to know how good some of the individual players are,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-Day.

“This is noticeable when some of the leading run makers and wicket takers in the Ranji Trophy are picked to play for India. They struggle to find their feet, and some fade away quickly, while some still stay on the fringes but are not quite able to crack it,” Gavaskar stated.

Sunil Gavaskar also stressed that a weakened Ranji Trophy season makes it possible for some players to score runs, but they fail to perform promisingly after earning senior India call-ups.

“There really is no easy solution, and the ‘A’ team matches certainly help in telling who is more likely to succeed internationally and who will remain a top Ranji performer. There’s a case for more A team matches, but not when the domestic competitions, especially the Ranji Trophy, are on. For then it won’t be a surprise with weakened competition, a batter may reach 2000 runs and a bowler 100 wickets in a Ranji season,” Gavaskar wrote.