BCCI releases three players from Indian squad, available for Ranji Trophy

Rohit Sharma can now join Mumbai’s Ranji team for the match on November 7

Indian national team stalwarts Rohit Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Stuart Binny were released from the Indian Test team on Thursday. Team management has allowed them to play for their respective states in the ongoing Ranji Trophy tournament.

These three players along with KL Rahul were on reserve bench for the first India vs South Africa test match at Mohali. Rahul has not been released as he might be needed to help the Indian side with fielding. According to a Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) statement, the three released players will join Indian team before the second test starts on November 14 in Bangalore.

A release from BCCI stated that two of Punjab’s Ranji trophy players- Gurkeerat Singh Mann and Mandeep Singh will assist the national squad as reserves. Punjab has no Ranji match scheduled during this test.

Previously, a number of times questions regarding why reserve bench players are not released to play domestic tournaments were raised. In 2013, Mahendra Singh Dhoni had answered such a question by saying, “In the past we have tried, but the problem is that you need a good fielder in the extra players who are playing. The other problem is that the association may say why you’re releasing this player or not that player.”

According to Captain Cool, it is important to retain reserve bench players as the team might be in need of fielders any time. He feels it is important to put the team’s interests first. “I think most players want to play (in the Ranji Trophy), but at the same time we’ll see what’s best for our team,” Mahi had said.

During Sachin Tendulkar’s final Test in Mumbai, Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma were part of the squad but were not included in playing XI. When MSD was asked whether they should be released he replied, “Of course we want players to play, we’ll see. If there’s something we can do, we’ll definitely do it. But we don’t want to do any unnecessary things.”

Rohit Sharma can now play for Mumbai in its home game against Uttar Pradesh that starts from November 7. Bhubneshwar Kumar can also help the fourth placed UP with his medium pace. Stuart Binny who had scored 43 and picked up three wickets in the match against Rajasthan, will be of massive help for Karnataka.