The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee has drawn lot of flak from the former players and experts for excluding Auqib Nabi from the squad for the one-off Test against Afghanistan. Nabi single-handedly led Jammu and Kashmir to their maiden Ranji Trophy title, with the pacer picking 60 wickets from 10 matches.
Siddhesh Lad, a former Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders player and a domestic cricket veteran, said the selection committee is sending wrong message to the domestic cricketers.
“You are sending a wrong message to the domestic cricketers, that even if you do well in Ranji Trophy, it doesn’t make any difference to your cricketing career, but if you do well in a few games in the IPL, you can make it to India’s Test team,” Lad said, in an interview with the Times of India.
“At the start, everyone is like, ‘If you perform in the Ranji Trophy, then you will play for India, if you don’t perform then you won’t.’ But in the end, when we really see the selection, that’s when a lot of things go wrong,” he added.
Former chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar called for the scrapping of Ranji Trophy if performances are not going to be rewarded. Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar was also on the same page as Vengsarkar, urging BCCI to do away with the Ranji Trophy.
Nabi, playing for Delhi Capitals, had a forgettable IPL 2026. Lad said doing well in the IPL has now become a benchmark to make it to the Indian team.
“I think you are 100% right when you say that performing well in the IPL is the benchmark for breaking into the Indian team.
“The harsh reality is that domestic cricket performances are ignored by the national selectors. The Ranji Trophy has been devalued. I won’t deny that. I’m not saying that I’ve performed well, so pick me into the Indian team, but I think someone like Auqib Nabi, If he has worked so hard and won the Ranji Trophy single-handedly for J&K, which is not so easy, performed exceptionally well in the Ranji Trophy, then he deserved to be picked in India’s Test side,” Lad explained.
“Nowadays, if you don’t do well in the IPL, or don’t have a good season in the IPL, your chances of coming into the Indian Test team are slim,” he also said.
After the conclusion of IPL, India take on Afghanistan in a one-off Test and three ODIs, starting from June 6.
