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'It Would Have Been Perfect...': Gavaskar's Suggestion For Indian Batters Amid Low Scores

image-lsbd2j3rIndia missed out with the bat again in Vizag [X.com]

Sunil Gavaskar highlighted the importance of Ranji Trophy exposure after seeing Indian batters face the flak for missing out on substantial runs in the first two Tests against England. The batting legend reckons few of the players can do with hard grind and a marathon knock for their first-class team before resuming Test duties with Team India. 

Gavaskar wasn't pleased with the number of Indian players failing to convert their starts, a pattern that continued from Hyderabad in Visakhapatnam. Despite Yashasvi Jaiswal's memorable double century in the first-innings and Shubman Gill's resurgent hundred in the second, India could only reach scores of 396 and 255. 



Even as the Indian team pulled off a magnificent comeback win, the former captain raised concerns over the batter's inability to bat the long haul in the middle, an issue embodied by struggling middle-order player Shreyas Iyer, who has got out attempting risky strokes in an effort to break the spree of dot balls rather than biding the phase through. 

Gavaskar On Lack Of Ranji Exposure Hurting India 

"What [When] the batters’ failure to get big runs also shows how important it is before a Test match series for both batters and bowlers to play some first-class [Ranji] games and get themselves in the right frame of mind for the longer format of the game,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-Day.

"The Ranji Trophy had started, and it would have been perfect timing for the batters to get into the groove for the Test series by playing a couple of games."



While Iyer did play one Ranji league game for Mumbai before the England Test series, generally Indian players don't get the time from their busy schedule at the international stage to take the field for their state team. 

Either way, India will have to resurrect to means as a batting unit and post more sizeable totals against an inexperienced English attack come the third Test, starting February 15.