"Would it have been better for some Indian batters to have played a couple of Ranji games?" - Gavaskar questions India's preparation for Tests

Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar has opined that competing in the Ranji Trophy would have been a wiser choice for some of the Indian batters instead of playing the T20I series against Afghanistan. The Men in Blue are scheduled to partake in a five-match Test series against England, beginning on January 25.

The Afghanistan series being the final international assignment before the 2024 T20 World Cup did not help things, coupled with the fact that some of the key white-ball players were injured as well. Several members of the Test squad played in the three-match affair, particularly batters Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shubman Gill.

Gavaskar highlighted that the majority of the batters did not have a good outing in the previous Test series against South Africa, and could have used the ongoing Ranji Trophy to get into the groove ahead of the England Tests.

"Would it have been better for some Indian batters to have played a couple of Ranji Trophy games to tune themselves for the Test series against England? Apart from KL Rahul, who scored one of the finest Test centuries seen in the first Test match in Centurion, and Virat Kohli, who batted well without quite getting to a century, the other Indian batters had a forgettable four innings in South Africa," Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.

"We will, of course, see in the coming weeks whether they should have played the T20 internationals against Afghanistan or a Ranji Trophy game," Gavaskar added

Team India ended up winning the T20I series against Afghanistan by a 3-0 margin, and the upcoming home Test rubber against England comes across as a crucial assignment, considering that they have not made the optimal start to the 2023-25 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.

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"Bringing back Rohit Sharma and Kohli for the three-match series against Afghanistan made little sense" - Sunil Gavaskar

The recently culminated series between India and Afghanistan also featured the return of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli into the T20I setup. The senior pair had not played a T20I since the infamous semi-final defeat to England in the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final.

During the timeframe, Team India made some significant changes to their approach, and the team management is keen on integrating the experienced pair into the setup ahead of the 2024 T20 World Cup.

Gavaskar criticized the decision to bring back Rohit and Kohli into the T20I team and lambasted the skipper for his manner of dismissal in the second contest in Indore.

"Bringing back Rohit Sharma and Kohli for the three-match series against Afghanistan made little sense, and the manner in which the skipper got out to the first ball he faced in the second game made one wonder if he is even interested in being out there.Having gotten run out for a duck in the first game, it was expected that Rohit would look to get some runs in the second," Gavaskar wrote.

"Instead, he played a forgettable shot to the first ball he faced and was back warming the cold bench in the changing room, watching two youngsters, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shivam Dube, toy with the Afghanistan bowling attack," Gavaskar concluded.

Rohit was bowled for a golden duck by Fazalhaq Farooqi in the second game as the skipper tried to take on the left-arm pacer from the word go. Rohit however, made amends by scoring his record fifth T20I hundred in the final match.