"They mostly played for the sake of it" - Chief selector makes shocking statement on international players after Mumbai's Ranji Trophy 2024-25 exit

Mumbai chief selector Sanjay Patil slammed the international players for the side's inability to defend their Ranji Trophy title. The 42-time champions lost to Vidarbha by 80 runs in the semifinal held in Nagpur last week.

The Ajinkya Rahane-led side boasted international players like Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Shreyas Iyer and Shardul Thakur. Team India openers Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal also played one match. However, barring Thakur, none of them stood out to help Mumbai qualify for the final.

The participation of senior cricketers came after BCCI made it compulsory for them to participate in domestic cricket during an international break. The move was triggered by India's back-to-back Test series losses against New Zealand and Australia.

As per the board, the directive will elevate the standards of Indian domestic cricket and help the players maintain match fitness.

However, after Mumbai's Ranji Trophy exit, Patil requested the BCCI to monitor the performances of international players in domestic cricket. He feels the star players didn't have enough hunger to win the title for the state.

Here's what Patil said (via Sportstar):

"I have a request for the association to make sure the international stars are made aware of it. Otherwise, it becomes unfair on the team and the rising stars. Our association has always stood by us but had no option due to the BCCI diktat."

"I have a request for Ajit, his committee and the BCCI that whenever you ask the international stars to turn up for their state teams, their performances should be closely monitored. They were asked to play and they did, mostly for the sake of it. All of them should have been monitored by the Indian national selection committee. If you see, all of them only participated, didn’t really perform. And it reflects in their team’s performance," he added.

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How did international players perform for Mumbai in Ranji Trophy 2024-25 semifinal?

Leading the side, Ajinkya Rahane returned with knocks of 18 & 12 and failed to be a glue to the batting department in the semifinal clash against Vidarbha.

India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav's horror form continued as he scored 0 & 23 in that match. Meanwhile, Shivam Dube could manage only 0 & 12.

All-rounder Shardul Thakur bowled 33 overs and conceded 133 runs, while picking up two wickets. However, he played impressive knocks of 37 & 66 and did the usual heavy lifting after the struggles of key batters.