ICC WTC Final: Forget WTC, if you prioritise IPL, says fuming Ravi Shastri: Former Team India head coach Ravi Shastri has dropped a bombshell at the Indian players and asked them to pick between national duty and franchise cricket following India’s poor show at the ICC WTC Final. His explosive remarks came following the Indian top-order failure to score runs against the Australian bowling attack in the first innings.
While the Aussie batters looked comfortable to bat on the uneven Oval pitch on the first two days of the ICC WTC Final, Rohit Sharma and Co. were stunned by the Pat Cummins-led attack. India were bundled out at a score of 296 runs when they were chasing 469 runs target in the first innings.
Fortunately, Ajinkya Rahane, Shardul Thakur and Ravindra Jadeja did some rescue work after yet another top-order debacle at 71 run score. While Rahane scored 89 runs, Shardul completed his half-century and Ravindra Jadeja was dismissed 2 runs shy of his well-deserved fifty.
Team India has played a catch-up game quite nicely following the early jolt in the first innings. As things stood at the stumps on Day 4 of the IND vs AUS test, India’s score reads 164 runs in the loss of three wickets with Virat Kohli (44*) and Ajinkya Rahane (20*) in the middle.
Rohit Sharma and Co still require 280 runs to avoid another ICC WTC Final failure in England while Australia needs seven wickets on day five of the test.
Forget ICC WTC Final, if you pick IPL over national duties: Ravi Shastri
Meanwhile, Ravi Shastri was left fuming at the performance of the Indian players in the first couple of days of the ICC WTC Final and has asked the players to set their priorities between national duties and the IPL.
“You must set your priorities, right? What is the priority? India or franchise cricket? You have to decide that,” said Ravi Shastri speaking to Star Sports.
He further indicated that if you chose franchise cricket over international games then the dream of lifting the WTC title is far-fetched.
“If you say franchise cricket, then forget this (WTC final). If this is important, then as the custodian of the sport, the BCCI are the bosses. There should be a clause in the IPL contract that if they need a player out of the IPL in the interest of India, they have the right to do it,” he said.
“First, put the clause and then ask the franchises to decide how much they want to invest. That is very important. You are the custodian of the sport. You control cricket in the country,” he added.
Notably, this isn’t the first time when Shastri has openly called out for a balance between national duties and franchise cricket. He had earlier asked the WTC-bound players to keep themselves fresh for the ultimate test. In fact, the reports earlier claimed that BCCI and the NCA medical team have intervened and asked the franchises to take care of the workload of specific players.
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For more details head to ICC’s official website.
