The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee, earlier this month, urged all India regulars to be available for the upcoming Duleep Trophy tournament, which will mark the beginning of the domestic red-ball season in the country. The decision was made in a bid to get the players geared up for the riveting Test schedule ahead for the Indian team, which comprises five matches at home across series against Bangladesh and New Zealand, followed by the Border-Gavaskar Test series in Australia in December. However, while all the top India players, along with fringe options and emerging talent were named for the Duleep Trophy, the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah were rested, leaving former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar concerned.

Taking to his social media handle on Wednesday, Manjrekar dropped eye-opening stats, highlighting Rohit, Kohli and Bumrah's appearances for India in international cricket. In the tweet, Manjrekar mentioned that India played close to 250 matches (242 since August 28, 2019) across formats in the last five years. And although Rohit (142) and Kohli (146) have been the busiest international players for India, it "only" amounts to 59 and 61 per cent of the total matches. Meanwhile for Bumrah (84), it is 34 per cent. Manjrekar felt that the trio could have been picked for the Duleep Trophy instead of being rested.

“India has played 249 international matches in the last 5 years. Rohit has played only 59% of those. Virat 61 % & Bumrah 34%. I see them as well rested India players. Could have been selected for the Duleep trophy,” he tweeted.

Manjrekar not the only one to question BCCI's move

Former BCCI secretary Jay Shah explained that the reason behind the selectors resting Kohli, Rohit and Bumrah was to avoid the risk of an injury ahead of the three crucial Test series. "We should not insist on players like Rohit and Virat to play in the Duleep Trophy. They will risk injury. If you have noticed, in Australia and England, every international player does not play domestic cricket. We have to treat the players with respect," he told the media earlier this month.

However, like Manjrekar, former India batter Sunil Gavaskar questioned BCCI's move as he was concerned that the trio would head to the Bangladesh Test series without match practice. The batting legend reasoned that lack of game time for players in their mid-thirties can weaken their “muscle memory” if they don’t play high standards for prolonged periods.

“The selectors have not picked the skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for the Duleep Trophy so they will most likely go into the Bangladesh Test series without much match practice. Once a player hits the mid-thirties in any sport, then regular competition will help him maintain the high standards he has set,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for the mid-day.

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