Sanjay Manjrekar questions senior Indian players’ absence from Duleep Trophy
The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee, earlier this month, urged all India regulars to be available for the Duleep Trophy tournament, which will mark the beginning of the domestic red-ball season in the country. The decision was made in order to get the players ready for the riveting Test schedule ahead for the Indian team which includes Test series against the likes of Bangladesh, New Zealand and Australia.
However, despite almost every Indian team player being named in the squads for Duleep Trophy, the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah were rested, leaving former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar concerned.
Taking to his social media handle, Manjrekar dropped interesting stats, highlighting the number of international appearances for the senior Indian trio who were rested for the domestic tournament. Manjrekar felt that the trio should have not been rested for the Duleep Trophy as they aren’t regularly available for the Indian team’s international matches anyway.
“India has played 249 international matches in the last 5 years. Rohit has played only 59% of those. Virat 61 % & Bumrah 34%. I see them as well rested India players. Could have been selected for the Duleep trophy,” Manjrekar posted on X.
Manjrekar is not the first former Indian cricketer to call out the selection committee’s decision of resting the 3 senior players as legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar had also questioned the move and argued that the lack of game time for players in their mid-thirties can weaken their ‘muscle memory’ if they don’t play high standards for prolonged periods.
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