Shastri wants Rohit and Kohli to play domestic cricket; Ponting proposes time off for Kohli

PTI, Jan 8, 2025, 4:26 PM IST

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New Delhi: Former India head coach Ravi Shastri wants the struggling Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to get back to playing Ranji Trophy and feels the Test future of the two superstars is dependent on the hunger to maintain their excellence in the game.

The repeated failures of the star Indian duo in the Border-Gavaskar trophy contributed to the visitors’ series loss.

India head coach Gautam Gambhir underlined the importance of domestic cricket following the loss and Shastri too feels Rohit and Kohli should return to playing Ranji Trophy even though the next series is in June. “If there’s a gap for them, they should go back and play some domestic cricket and see how it is. Because when you play Test match cricket for that length of time, it’s important to play domestic cricket for two reasons,” Shastri said during a conversation alongside Australian great Ricky Ponting on ICC Review.

“One you are abreast with the current generation (and) you can contribute to that younger generation with your experience. And more importantly, you get to play spin more than you will ever play.

“If you see, India’s record in India on turning tracks is not the greatest. If you have quality spinners in the opposition, they can trouble you. And they have troubled India,” he added.

Asked specifically on their Test future, Shastri added: “I would leave that on them and would be closely tracking how they fare in the upcoming games (ODIs against England, Champions Trophy).

“The hunger and desire as well is very important. One is 36 the other is 38 they would know how hungry they are. They will walk away if they think they have had enough,” added Shastri.

Kohli will be better served by a break: Ponting, Former Australian captain Ponting has no shame in admitting that he carried on playing at the highest level longer than he should have. Back in 2022, Kohli had taken a month off from the game and that worked well for him.

Ponting feels time has come for Kohli to get away from the game following his constant troubles outside the off-stump over the course of the five Test series Down Under.

“…The challenge is, and I can see it with Virat now, you can see how much he wants it. He’s trying so hard that actually makes batting harder. The harder you try sometimes with batting, the less success you’re going to have,” said the multiple World Cup winner.

“I started thinking more about not getting out rather than scoring runs and that might sound strange but that’s what it was. I was trying to be so perfect set the right example play exactly the way my team needed me all the time but when I was playing my best I didn’t think about any of that.

“I just walked out and thought about scoring runs. I can just see a little bit of that with Virat now. Even the way that he’s getting out you can see he doesn’t want to be playing at those balls he’s trying not to do it but he’s there’s some mental block there that’s making him feel for that one outside the off stump.” A break can only help the Indian legend, said Ponting.

“He had a mental break (in the past) where he stepped away for a while and then came back and find the love for the game again. So right now it just seems like that real love of the game for him is not there because he’s making it too hard to enjoy.

“So if he wants to continue playing Test match cricket, he might just need to have a little spell for a while, find the love for the game again.”