How IPL bias in selection is hurting Test cricket

Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya are two notable IPL spin-offs who have represented India in all three formats whenever they have been fit to play. Pandya has recently ruled himself out of the June 2023 World Cup final, admitting he is not ready for the longest format of the game. Pandya and Dhawan only play IPL; both played in one match in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (T20) and Vijay Hazare Trophy (50-overs) in the 2022-23 domestic season. Whenever they are not playing in India, they are not playing domestic cricket except IPL (which is recognized by BCCI as a domestic league).

Sarfaraz Khan, Mayank Agarwal and Ajinkya Rahane have done enough in the Duleep Trophy and Ranji Trophy in 2022-23 to earn a place in the Test team. Sarfaraz Khan, who has played consistently for the last three seasons in domestic cricket, somehow doesn’t fit into the selection scheme of things and could well be lost like Amol Muzumdar or Karun Nair (who was not reached despite a triple century in a Test match against England). Rahane, on the strength of last season’s domestic cricket, was fit to return to the Test squad with Shreyas Iyer ineligible, despite the IPL headlines. But picking Rahane in the Test team based on his IPL form this season because he is turning heads with his astronomical strike rate would be completely unfair.

Just a few of the current cricketers like Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj are excellent all-rounders. You still need players like Cheteshwar Pujara, Mohammed Shami and Ravichandran Ashwin to form a good Test team. Rahane, given his form in first-class cricket last domestic season, deserves a place in the middle order at number five. The conditions in England, West Indies and South Africa guarantee a technically stable player like him.

Since the publication of the report and this reply, Rahane has been selected in the Test squad and players like Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav and Mukesh Kumar have been named. Ishan Kishan has been selected in place of the injured KL Rahul. While Mukesh Kumar was on the selection radar after the last domestic season, the selection of Ishan Kishan when the selectors had options in Sanju Samson and Upendra Yadav (who has been in the India A team) explains the IPL bias. Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan have been awarded based on IPL form. As mentioned above, Sarfaraz Khan seems to be going in the same direction as Amol Muzumdar or Karun Nair, both of whose talents were wasted. In Yashasvi Jaiswal, the selectors have an excellent all-format option and should be nurtured into the Test squad in the near future.

The author is a public sector professional