Virat and Rohit came to play in Vijay Hazare Trophy.Image Credit source: PTI

Ever since the entry of Ajit Agarkar as Chief Selector and then Head Coach Gautam Gambhir in Indian cricket, it has been emphasized that every cricketer will have to participate in domestic tournaments also. Especially maximum emphasis has been given on playing Ranji Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy. For some time now, this pressure was being put more and more especially on legends like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, whose future is being questioned. But is a tournament like Vijay Hazare Trophy the right platform to test the form of these greats? Should they be forced to play in this tournament? These questions are being raised only after the first round of matches and there are reasons for this.

Virat-Rohit's explosive batting

since last about a year Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma 's cricket career is under question. In such a situation, he is being asked to play domestic cricket continuously. Before announcing their retirement from Test cricket, both of them had played one Ranji Trophy match each but then immediately retired.

However, even before the start of this tournament, both of them had scored a lot of runs while batting strongly against Australia and South Africa. But even after this, before the next ODI series, he was asked to participate in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Eventually Virat and Rohit agreed to play some matches for their respective home teams and then joined the team.

Is the level of the tournament worth testing the giants?

Obviously such performance was expected from both of them but the matter does not end here. In fact, it rained centuries on the very first day of this tournament which started on Wednesday 24th December. Not only Virat and Rohit scored centuries, but a total of 22 centuries were scored on the first day, which included a double century and a 190-run innings.

These figures are being told because they raise questions about the level of the tournament. Can this tournament properly test the match fitness, form or ability of such batsmen who have scored more than 80 centuries and more than 25 thousand runs in One Day Internationals? Can forcing him to play in this tournament really be a fair measure of his selection? In such a tournament, where scoring runs has become a kind of joke and it has been like this for the last 3-4 years, can the batting of stalwarts like Virat and Rohit in those matches give a true indication of their form or fitness?

There is only one answer to all this – no. In fact, by forcing both of them to play in these matches, BCCI wants to prove that everyone will have to give time to domestic cricket, so that its importance also increases and the players can always keep themselves ready. But by playing stars with 15-20 years of experience in this level of cricket, injustice is actually being done to those players who could have tested themselves or proved themselves by playing in their place.

Also missed the opportunity to promote domestic cricket

In favor of this, it can be claimed that his playing will also provide some benefit to the domestic cricketers. Besides, the popularity of domestic cricket will also increase. One can agree with the first claim for once but the second aspect is not accepted. The reason for this is also BCCI. The popularity of any game increases only when it reaches people. But the matches in which Virat and Rohit took the field were not telecast live on TV or online platforms and people were deprived of watching them play.

In the Mumbai match, the spectators were allowed to come to the stadium but in the Delhi match, the spectators were not even given that facility. In such a situation, all these questions are bound to arise and with this exercise, BCCI or the coach-selector may be happy in their mind thinking that they have made the superstar players dance to their tune, but the truth is that it is neither going to have any effect on those greats nor does it seem to be of any benefit to domestic cricket.