Rohit Sharma's big statement on playing domestic cricket amid BCCI contracts row

Dharamsala, Mar 6 (PTI) India captain Rohit Sharma wants players, who are not on national duty, to make themselves available for domestic cricket unless they have been declared "unfit" by the BCCI's medical team.

In a strong message to players, who prioritize one format over the other, the Indian cricket board advised all contracted cricketers to give "precedence" to domestic cricket and went to the extent of excluding 2023 ODI World Cuppers Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from the pool of centrally contracted cricketers after they ignored the board's diktat on Ranji Trophy.

Ahead of the final Test against England, Rohit made it clear that the move applies to all and not a few players.

"There has been talk about this for a long, long time. That when the players are available, they've got to make themselves available to play domestic cricket, unless they have been given a certificate from the medical group that they want to be rested or will not be taking part in domestic cricket, but if you are available, if you are fit, if you're fine, it is important that we go and play that," said Rohit.

"It is not for just few cricketers, it is for everyone to make sure that whenever you're available, and fine, you should be able to play domestic cricket." Rohit is busy preparing for the Dharamsala Test but still found time to track the recently concluded semi-finals of Ranji Trophy that saw participation from his own domestic side Mumbai.

"You saw the Ranji trophy that was played this week. I watched Mumbai and Tamil Nadu, obviously there was a very interesting game happening today as well, I think Vidarbha won (they did on Wednesday).

"When games like that happen, you see the quality and everything coming into display for everyone to watch. It is important that we give importance to domestic cricket, which is the core of Indian cricket," said the skipper. PTI