'Even if you are Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma' - 1983 World Cup winner opines on Indian Cricket Board's decision to give importance to domestic cricket

Kirti Azad, the 1983 World Cup player, supported the Indian Cricket Board's decision on Thursday to allow cricketers to play in the Ranji Trophy, saying it's a sensible step and that all players on the Indian team, including Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, should be subject to the regulation. Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer, the out-of-favour pair, were left off the centrally-contracted players list when they disregarded the order to play Ranji Trophy. 

"It (directive) is a very good move. Everybody should be playing Ranji Trophy cricket, but currently, the emphasis is on the IPL. It is good, it is entertaining but the real cricket is the (five) days' cricket. Playing in domestic cricket is good, it keeps you in touch."

Penalising only Ishan and Iyer, in his opinion, wasn't right. Ishan and Iyer's names were taken from the list of players under central contract, but Azad would not say whether this meant that their days were over.

"My question is, are they playing enough domestic cricket?" - Kirti Azad on Indian Cricket Board's decision

He questioned why England cricketers gladly played county cricket when they weren't playing for their country, but Indian players had problems playing domestic cricket.

"My question is, are they playing enough domestic cricket? They are playing T20 cricket, nowadays and every other state has a T20 cricket league. Back in the days when we were starting our careers, players like Bishan Singh Bedi, Madan Lal, Surinder Amarnath, Mohinder Amarnath, Chetan Chauhan, Sunil Gavaskar, Sandeep Patil, Karsan Ghavri played alongside youngsters like me and Ravi Shastri.

"All these senior Test team players would play for their sides, would play for the pride of their state which seems missing in the youngsters nowadays," he added.

He praised Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan for finding a balance and managing to play T20 cricket and IPL.