Ranji Trophy isn't given its due

Bengaluru: For all its "enviable" talent pool and resources, the Indian cricket team's biggest achievements in the last decade have been back-to-back Test series wins in Australia (2018-19, 2020-21). While that's an incredible feat, especially the second series win which was fashioned by a rag-tag team in the absence of injured or unavailable seniors, there has been little else to gloat about. They haven't won an away Test series in England since 2007, not been able to beat New Zealand since 2009 and have never overcome South Africa in the last 32 years since their readmission to international cricket.

Following India's abject surrender to South Africa in the first game of the two-Test series in Centurion – which put paid to their dream of winning a maiden Test rubber in the Rainbow nation -- social media was abuzz about the current World No. 1 side's performances in red-ball cricket in the so-called SENA countries (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) in the past few years.

Even when we believed that the team that played Test cricket under Virat Kohli was arguably the best in terms of talent and performance, it lost a series each in England and New Zealand, drew one in England and lost two in South Africa, where they are staring at another defeat. Out of a total of 27 Tests since the 2019 series in England, they have won nine, lost 15 and drawn 3. Add two defeats in as many World Test Championship finals, and the loss count stands at 17 in these four countries over five years.

Is it truly reflective of a Test power? How on earth does a team that won a series in Australia with second or even third-string players perform so embarrassingly with all the stars in it? Whatever happened to the conveyor belt of gifted batters and a battery of pace bowlers? Where does the problem lie? Are we too focused on white-ball cricket? Are rank turners at home the culprits? Is domestic first-class cricket competitive enough to prepare players for the SENA conditions? It's perhaps a bit of everything but as another season of Ranji Trophy unfolds in less than a week's time, let's study if the tournament, the feeder line to Test cricket, has it in it to produce an all-weather player.

Caught between the ambition to win on seaming, swinging and bouncy tracks and the desire to maintain dominance at home (by rolling out spinner-friendly decks), the Board of Control for Cricket in India has had no clear approach to address the twin objectives. In 2011-12, following twin white-washes in England and Australia, the BCCI directed the curators to prepare pace-friendly pitches in order to equip the Indian batters with the right ingredients to tackle alien conditions. This resulted in curators dishing out green tops where even a military medium trundler appeared menacing while taking the spinners totally out of the game. Pitch preparation is skin to cooking; anything in excess spoils the taste. Consequently, the directive was given a quiet burial, restoring the status quo.

Spin and batting tracks came back with a vengeance as host associations decided to play to their strengths, resulting in inflated figures for the practitioners of both trades. This didn't serve any purpose, and so the BCCI introduced fixed venues for knockouts for the 2013-14 season with instructions to prepare "sporting pitches" by neutral curators. This meant a team could be playing at home or both teams could be playing at a neutral venue, depending upon at what position the teams qualified on the points table. This was perhaps the best of the moves to make the country's premier tournament more competitive, but it discouraged a few hundred spectators that otherwise might have come to watch their home team. So, the home and away system made a quiet return.

The more the BCCI has tried to reform the tournament, the more things have remained the same. But then this is the same system that has churned out players like Gavaskars and Vishwanaths, Tendulkars and Dravids, Kohlis and Rohits, Kapil Devs and Srinaths, Chandrasekhars and Kumbles...

"There is absolutely no problem with the domestic cricket structure," says former India all-rounder and chief selector Sunil Joshi. "The problem lies with our big players, the stars, not playing domestic first-class matches once they secure their place in the national team. How many of our established internationals are willing to play domestic cricket even when they are available? I would be very interested to know how many will turn up for their respective state teams when the South Africa series gets over as the Ranji Trophy will be in full swing at that time (before England arrive for the five-Test series)."

Indian players will get at least the second round of Ranji Trophy matches to ease themselves back into Indian conditions before the England series kicks off on January 25. Yes, you read it right - "into Indian conditions". While India have consistently won at home over the last few decades against all comers, the gulf in batting skill sets between the home side and the visitors has narrowed considerably. Their scores of 109 and 163 in two innings on a rank-turner in Indore against Australia in March, when two Australian spinners accounted for 17 of the 20 wickets, thoroughly exposed the Indian batters' vulnerability against the turning ball.

"This is again the result of not taking first-class cricket seriously," Joshi emphasises. "There are many quality experienced spinners in the domestic circuit and facing them will help our batters reacquire those skills that once made them the best players of spin. The presence of big players will also help the youngsters because there is so much to learn from them. Playing in domestic cricket is mutually beneficial."

Whether playing domestic cricket or having enough preparatory time ahead of a series, it all boils down to prioritising your schedule in an increasingly hectic calendar. You can't be playing two-three months of white-ball cricket in sub-continental conditions (as India did in the run up to the World Cup) and expect to do well straightaway in red-ball cricket in totally alien conditions.

There needs to be an honest introspection from the BCCI, for everything is intertwined. Star players don't play domestic cricket because of the tight international calendar. With the IPL eating away almost two months, which used to be off-season for India, the gap between international assignments is so tight that there is hardly any room for tour games to acclimatize to pacy conditions. And whenever there is a room for such manoeuvres, a meaningless bilateral series is inserted like the five-match T20I series between India and Australia immediately after the World Cup.

You may have all the money in the world and the biggest talent pool, but if they are not channelised in the right way, there is little hope for change.