Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar has said that competing in the Ranji Trophy would have been a better way for some of the Team India players instead of playing the T20I series against Afghanistan. His comments came as Team India are scheduled to play a five-match Test series against England, beginning on January 25.

On the other hand, the T20I series vs Afghanistan was the final international assignment before the 2024 T20 World Cup as well where several members of the Test squad, especially batters Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shubman Gill took part. And, Gavaskar said that the majority of the batters did not have a good outing in the previous Test series against South Africa as well and playing in the ongoing Ranji Trophy could have helped them before the England Tests.

“Would it have been better for some Indian batters to have played a couple of Ranji Trophy games to tune themselves for the Test series against England? Apart from KL Rahul, who scored one of the finest Test centuries seen in the first Test match in Centurion, and Virat Kohli, who batted well without quite getting to a century, the other Indian batters had a forgettable four innings in South Africa,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar. “We will, of course, see in the coming weeks whether they should have played the T20 internationals against Afghanistan or a Ranji Trophy game.”

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However, Team India won the T20I series against Afghanistan by a 3-0 margin, and the upcoming home Test series against England will be a crucial assignment, considering that they have not done well in the 2023-25 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. On the other hand, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have returned to the T20I setup. And, Gavaskar criticized the decision to bring back the duo and also he slammed the captain for his manner of dismissal in the second T20I in Indore.

“Bringing back Rohit Sharma and Kohli for the three-match series against Afghanistan made little sense, and the manner in which the skipper got out to the first ball he faced in the second game made one wonder if he is even interested in being out there.Having gotten run out for a duck in the first game, it was expected that Rohit would look to get some runs in the second. Instead, he played a forgettable shot to the first ball he faced and was back warming the cold bench in the changing room, watching two youngsters, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shivam Dube, toy with the Afghanistan bowling attack,” Sunil Gavaskar concluded.