Rohit Sharma Virat Kohli denied playing Duleep Trophy in arrogance despite Gautam Gambhir and BCCI interference

India National Cricket Team skipper Rohit Sharma and senior batter Virat Kohli have come under massive scanner after the team's loss to the New Zealand National Cricket Team. The hosts faced the 3-0 drubbing against the Black Caps at home in the three-match Test series.

India getting whitewashed at home for the first time in Tests has led to some massive revelations as the postmortem is underway. As per the reports in Indian Express, it is learned that ahead of the home Test season, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) wanted top players to feature in the Duleep Trophy.

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin denied playing in the Duleep Trophy

However, the reports claimed that the big names Rohit, Kohli, and Ravichandran Ashwin denied playing in the Duleep Trophy, citing a “lack of motivation”. It is learned that BCCI had mentioned after the T20 World Cup 2024 that all the players should be available for the domestic games.

This was because BCCI wanted all the Indian players to get some match practice before the red-ball season. The reports claimed that Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Ravindra Jadeja all agreed to play initially. But in the last minute, top players later decided to withdraw their names and head into the season without practice.

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Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli struggled to get going in the entire home season

The reports also added that when Rohit, Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Jasprit Bumrah didn’t participate in the Duleep Trophy, the selection committee decided to release Ravindra Jadeja, who had agreed to play in the domestic tournament.

The lack of practice was quite evident as both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli struggled to get going in the entire home season. While the captain managed 133 runs in 10 innings, Kohli amassed 192 runs. They haven't played domestic cricket for a long now. Sharma featured in the Ranji Trophy in 2015, while Kohli played in 2012.

While the senior players didn't agree to play in the Duleep Trophy. The likes of Shubman Gill, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal, K L Rahul, and Washington Sundar all played in the tournament. The result was evident as most of them had at least one significant knock in the five Tests.

They should have had some practice - Sunil Gavaskar on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli not playing in the Duleep Trophy

With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli not playing in the Duleep Trophy, Sunil Gavaskar also felt that Indian players should've played domestic cricket as they had a long break after the T20 World Cup 2024. While speaking to Indian Express about the same, he explained:

“They should have had some practice. It’s a long gap. I know we beat Bangladesh and therefore, it looked as if it was going to be a cakewalk against New Zealand. But New Zealand had a better attack, with cricketers who have played in India and in the IPL, who have a sense of what Indian pitches do,”

India Test team will be next seen in action when they take on Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, starting 22nd November. To qualify for the final of the ICC World Test Championship, they need to win at least 4 games in Australia and draw one game.