New Delhi: Sourav Ganguly has observed the evolution of Indian cricket during his three-year tenure as BCCI president, both as captain and administrator of the Indian team. Ganguly, who currently works with young Indian players as Delhi Capitals' director of cricket, said in an interview. Toi On the importance of red-ball cricket in player development. Excerpts from a conversation during the Delhi Capitals camp at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Friday…
With BCCI removing Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from central contracts, the focus has shifted to the relevance of first-class cricket.
I think this is the first time that domestic red-ball cricket was not played or ignored. Otherwise, you may have played Ranji His Trophy when everyone is free. I am confident that BCCI will take appropriate steps.
Perhaps the younger generation feels it is important to focus on white-ball cricket to have a good career in the IPL. Obviously, not many people can play Test cricket in India…
They can play with both red and white balls. An IPL career could coincide with a stint in first-class cricket. they don't conflict. First-class cricket is over and there is almost a month before the IPL begins. No problem. Many top-level players play Test cricket and white-ball cricket. Look at Kohli, Rohit, Bumrah, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant.
There's Mitchell Marsh on the world stage. He is currently Australia's best red-ball player. Harry Brooke plays red-ball cricket. David Warner played a lot of Test cricket, but he was also one of the best white-ball players. Even in my time, Sachin, Rahul and I played Test cricket and then white ball cricket. There's no reason why you can play one and not the other.
How important is Ranji Trophy performance for IPL franchises?
you see everything. I'm not saying just look at lunge performance. We will focus on the white ball performance and the Ranji Trophy performance. What happens is Ranji his trophy his season is his two months. And if they leave the Ranji Trophy season and finish the domestic season in November or early December, they will next play in April. There is too much difference in game time.
Young players cite workload management at the state level and factors that…
To be honest, the workload only applies to fast bowlers. Why do batsmen need workload management? It is understandable that Bumrah is resting. Jimmy Anderson played over his 160 Tests. What kind of workload are you talking about in the early stages of your career? I still maintain that the standard of cricket in India is great.
Do you think young players need to be coached better?
For someone like Ishan Kishan, BCCI secretary Jay Shah, president Roger Binney and the selection committee need to talk to him. All this time he played Ranji and then white ball cricket. Did that make him a bad player? it's not.
All the players selected for Delhi Capitals have played in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy and Ranji Trophy. Ishant Sharma has also played Ranji. Khalil Ahmed played a full season for the first time in a while.
We worked with him in the offseason to get him in good shape to play Ranji. The only exception you'll need to talk to is he's one or he's only two.
India seems to be the only country where young players do not announce their retirement from the format?
The difference with other countries is that Indian players also play in other leagues, but that doesn't happen in India. So we have to keep playing domestic cricket throughout the season.
Coming to the Capitals, there's a lot of hype about Rishabh Pant's impending comeback…
It's part of professional sports. Rishabh coming back healthy is a big addition for us. I hope he plays a full season because he's a very special player. We have worked with some of the domestic players who have performed well in all formats. But Rishabh is very important.
Is there any comment from the medical team that Pant is fit to keep wickets? Is there a captain or back-up wicketkeeper?
He's doing everything to stay fit and that's why the NCA cleared him. Let's get Rishabh cleared on March 5 and then talk about backing up the captain. We are taking a cautious approach to him because he has a very long career ahead of him. We don't want to get him excited. Let's see how Rishabh reacts. He will join the camp once the NCA gives him permission. We'll take a look at each match. It cannot be predicted.
The wicket option is Kumar Kushagra. Ricky Bui had a very good season. We have Shai Hope and Tristan Stubbs.
Prithvi Shaw is also returning from injury. He had a very bad season last year. your thoughts…
Prithvi is very good at batting. He played for the county last season and scored a lot of goals. The only thing about him is that he thinks a lot about strike rate. It needs to be balanced. He is also getting healthier. Last year there was an over-reliance on overseas players. That shouldn't happen this year.
With BCCI removing Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from central contracts, the focus has shifted to the relevance of first-class cricket.
I think this is the first time that domestic red-ball cricket was not played or ignored. Otherwise, you may have played Ranji His Trophy when everyone is free. I am confident that BCCI will take appropriate steps.
Perhaps the younger generation feels it is important to focus on white-ball cricket to have a good career in the IPL. Obviously, not many people can play Test cricket in India…
They can play with both red and white balls. An IPL career could coincide with a stint in first-class cricket. they don't conflict. First-class cricket is over and there is almost a month before the IPL begins. No problem. Many top-level players play Test cricket and white-ball cricket. Look at Kohli, Rohit, Bumrah, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant.
There's Mitchell Marsh on the world stage. He is currently Australia's best red-ball player. Harry Brooke plays red-ball cricket. David Warner played a lot of Test cricket, but he was also one of the best white-ball players. Even in my time, Sachin, Rahul and I played Test cricket and then white ball cricket. There's no reason why you can play one and not the other.
How important is Ranji Trophy performance for IPL franchises?
you see everything. I'm not saying just look at lunge performance. We will focus on the white ball performance and the Ranji Trophy performance. What happens is Ranji his trophy his season is his two months. And if they leave the Ranji Trophy season and finish the domestic season in November or early December, they will next play in April. There is too much difference in game time.
Young players cite workload management at the state level and factors that…
Expanding
Do you think young players need to be coached better?
For someone like Ishan Kishan, BCCI secretary Jay Shah, president Roger Binney and the selection committee need to talk to him. All this time he played Ranji and then white ball cricket. Did that make him a bad player? it's not.
All the players selected for Delhi Capitals have played in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy and Ranji Trophy. Ishant Sharma has also played Ranji. Khalil Ahmed played a full season for the first time in a while.
We worked with him in the offseason to get him in good shape to play Ranji. The only exception you'll need to talk to is he's one or he's only two.
India seems to be the only country where young players do not announce their retirement from the format?
The difference with other countries is that Indian players also play in other leagues, but that doesn't happen in India. So we have to keep playing domestic cricket throughout the season.
Coming to the Capitals, there's a lot of hype about Rishabh Pant's impending comeback…
It's part of professional sports. Rishabh coming back healthy is a big addition for us. I hope he plays a full season because he's a very special player. We have worked with some of the domestic players who have performed well in all formats. But Rishabh is very important.
Is there any comment from the medical team that Pant is fit to keep wickets? Is there a captain or back-up wicketkeeper?
He's doing everything to stay fit and that's why the NCA cleared him. Let's get Rishabh cleared on March 5 and then talk about backing up the captain. We are taking a cautious approach to him because he has a very long career ahead of him. We don't want to get him excited. Let's see how Rishabh reacts. He will join the camp once the NCA gives him permission. We'll take a look at each match. It cannot be predicted.
The wicket option is Kumar Kushagra. Ricky Bui had a very good season. We have Shai Hope and Tristan Stubbs.
Prithvi Shaw is also returning from injury. He had a very bad season last year. your thoughts…
Prithvi is very good at batting. He played for the county last season and scored a lot of goals. The only thing about him is that he thinks a lot about strike rate. It needs to be balanced. He is also getting healthier. Last year there was an over-reliance on overseas players. That shouldn't happen this year.
2 Comments
Can you be more specific about the content of your article? After reading it, I still have some doubts. Hope you can help me.
I don’t think the title of your article matches the content lol. Just kidding, mainly because I had some doubts after reading the article.