Former India captain and legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev came with a positive reaction to the steps taken by the BCCI to improve first-class cricket.
BCCI recently announced their annual player retainership for the senior men’s team for the 2023-24 season, the release also mentioning,” The BCCI has recommended that all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team.
Reacting to the update, Kapil claimed the step was a big and positive decision for Indian cricket.
“I was going through the last few weeks of cricket in India. I am so happy that the cricket board has taken a step forward for first-class cricket” he was quoted by PTI as saying.
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Kapil put up his take that the players should play for their respective first-class teams whenever they are not on international duty.
“Yes, few players will suffer, kuch logon ko taqleef hogi, hone do lekin desh se badhkar koi nahi hai (some people will feel hurt but let it be because nobody is bigger than the country). Well done,” he said.
“I congratulate the BCCI for taking the much needed step to protect the status of domestic cricket. I was sad to see domestic cricket being given the skip by players once they had established themselves in international cricket,” he added.
The step from the BCCI saw the end of central contracts of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer who went against BCCI's decision and didn't play for their respective first-class sides despite remaining out of the Indian team.
However, Shreyas will now be playing for Mumbai in the ongoing Ranji Trophy tournament as they will be playing their semi-final match against Tamil Nadu.
It is to be noted that Kishan has been out of the Indian side for a while, having taken a break due to personal reasons during South Africa.
He made his return to cricket through the DY Patil T20 tournament which featured Indian players like Hardik Pandya, Tilak Verma, and others.
Indian team is all set to face England in the fifth match of the ongoing Test series which is scheduled to be played in Dharamsala from Thursday, March 7.