Vital to Play Domestic Cricket if Fit and Available Unless Certified Otherwise, Remarks Rohit Sharma

Dharamsala: India skipper Rohit Sharma believes that players who are not on national duty should participate in domestic cricket unless the BCCI’s medical team declares them "unfit”.

BCCI have already shared their stand saying the players shouldn’t prioritise one format over the other while advising all the contracted cricketers to give preference to domestic cricket. The Indian cricket board has taken some serious steps towards it by dropping Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan from the central contracts after not turning out to play for their respective state teams in Ranji Trophy.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference, skipper Rohit made it clear that the move applies to all and not a few players.

"It is not for just a few cricketers, it is for everyone to make sure that whenever you're available, and fine, you should be able to play domestic cricket," Rohit said.

"There has been talk about this for a long, long time. That when the players are available, they've got to make themselves available to play domestic cricket, unless they have been given a certificate from the medical group that they want to be rested or will not be taking part in domestic cricket, but if you are available, if you are fit, if you're fine, it is important that we go and play that," he said.

The 36-year-old will lead the relatively young Indian side in the Dharamshala Test, and is busy in planning and preparing for the final Test of the series. But, the batter still found time to track the recently concluded Ranji Trophy semi-final between his domestic side Mumbai and Tamil Nadu.

"You saw the Ranji trophy that was played this week. I watched Mumbai and Tamil Nadu, obviously there was a very interesting game happening today as well, I think Vidarbha won (they did on Wednesday)," he concluded.

"When games like that happen, you see the quality and everything coming into display for everyone to watch. It is important that we give importance to domestic cricket, which is the core of Indian cricket."

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