sb.scorecardresearch

Election Delhi 2025 in association with

Camlin

Published 13:17 IST, January 29th 2025

'Report To NCA': Sunil Gavaskar Questions Virat Kohli And KL Rahul After Star Duo Miss Ranji Games Due To Fitness Concerns

Virat Kohli and KL Rahul will be back for Delhi and Karnataka to play Ranji Trophy games before the start of the IND vs ENG three-match ODI series

Follow: Google News Icon
  • share
KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Sunil Gavaskar
KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Sunil Gavaskar | Image: AP/BCCI

Indian cricket's superstar batter Virat Kohli will play in the Ranji Trophy for the first time in over 12 years when he turns out for Delhi against Railways. However, Kohli was expected to make a comeback in the previous game against Saurashtra but missed it due to a neck sprain.  Similarly, another star India batter in KL Rahul was expected to turn out for his side Karnataka for their game against Punjab but missed it due to an elbow niggle.

Sunil Gavaskar Questions the NCA's Role

The absence of the two players has been questioned by former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, who said that the circumstances surrounding them missing domestic games were suspicious. 'It would be interesting to see if KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, and Virat Kohli, who didn’t play in last week’s round of Ranji Trophy matches, will play the next round. More interesting would be what action the BCCI takes if they don’t play. Were they injured? Getting a medical certificate for an ‘injury’ is child’s play' wrote Gavaskar for his column in Sportstar.

Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill and KL Rahul during India's practice session | Image: Press Trust of India

Gavaskar further added that in the case of centrally-contracted players, they must report to the National Cricket Academy when injured yet neither Kohli nor Rahul did so. 'Isn’t that the practice for the BCCI-contracted players, that as soon as there’s an injury, they have to report to the NCA, and only after the BCCI experts there certify them as fit can they resume playing for India? For all we know, these players might have opted out of the earlier games for non-injury reasons', Gavaskar said.

Rohit Sharma And Shreyas Iyer's Intent In Question

This isn't the first time that Gavaskar is questioning the intent of players turning out for domestic cricket games. He recently slammed both Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer, questioning their real intentions of playing in the Ranji Trophy.

Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer during Mumbai's Ranji Trophy match againt Jammu and Kashmir | Image: Press Trust of India

Whether their hearts were in it or they did that only to ensure they were not stripped of their BCCI contracts, like Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were, after missing out on the Ranji Trophy games last year, is known only to them. Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s participation meant that Ayush Mhatre, who had got a couple of hundreds and some fifties, had to be left out of the Mumbai side’, Gavaskar said.

It is worth noting that all of these players, despite playing in red-ball domestic cricket, will next be seen focusing on the ICC Champions Trophy as India looks to win yet another international multi-nation tournament after lifting the T20 World Cup in 2024.

Updated 15:29 IST, January 29th 2025