Gautam Gambhir backs Indian players to play in domestic circuit after series loss against Australia

India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir has backed Indian players to play in the Ranji trophy whenever they get an opportunity after a 3-1 series loss against Australia. India suffered a six-wicket loss against the Aussies at the SCG on Sunday as the hosts regained the Border-Gavaskar trophy after a decade.

As the Indian team has a hectic schedule, the International players hardly go back to play for their respective states in the domestic circuit. While Virat Kohli played for Delhi in 2012 in the Ranji Trophy, Rohit Sharma did so in 2015.

Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant haven’t played any domestic cricket after making their Test debuts in 2018.

“I would always like everyone to play domestic cricket,” Gambhir said on Sunday (January 5) in the post-match press conference. “That is how much importance domestic cricket needs to be given. Not only one game.”

“If they are available and they have the commitment to play red-ball cricket, everyone should play domestic cricket. As simple as it can get. If you don’t give importance to domestic cricket, you will never get the desired players what you want in Test cricket,” Gambhir said.

India’s batting failed to come up with a collective show as they were shot down below 200 runs on six occasions in nine innings. Barring Yashasvi Jaiswal and Nitish Reddy, all the batters had the experience of playing in the tough Australian conditions but could not deliver consistently.

“Not a lot of people are playing for the first time in Australia. Probably two of them in the top 8: Nitish [Reddy] and Yashasvi [Jaiswal],” Gambhir said. “All the other guys have had the experience of Australia. So I’m not going to say that it is only because of the young guys. But I think there are a lot of experienced players as well.

“A bit [of the batting issues] could be because of the wickets. But again, it’s not only the case in Australia. We’ve had the same issues at home as well. So I think everything boils down to temperament. Everything boils down to how much you want to sometimes play those tough moments. How much you want to grind in Test cricket. Because Test cricket is all about playing the session. Sometimes see off the spell as well.

“And that is why it’s the beauty of sport. So I feel that is one issue where we need to probably look after. How can we convert those 20s, 30s or 40s into big 100s. Not only 100s but big 100s and set the game for our bowlers. Because your bowling department will always be under pressure. If you can’t put those first innings runs on the board. So that is something which we need to look into.”

After this loss, India is out of the WTC final race.