Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar found a fault line in Indian cricket as he pointed to the glaring difference between the Indian Premier League (IPL) and India's premier domestic tournament - the Ranji Trophy.

The IPL has, over the years, brought to the forefront many youngsters who later went on to don the India jersey and became a permanent feature in the national set-up - Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Siraj, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, and Kuldeep Yadav. The list is long.

With uncapped Indian youngsters getting to rub shoulders with international stars and becoming acquainted with the dressing room and high-voltage matches, they found it easier to graduate to international cricket.

But the Ranji Trophy still holds the key to India's position in global cricket, with the tournament serving as a platform for cricketers to hone their skills, test themselves, and become dogged, technically sound players.

While Gavaskar acknowledged the significant role of both tournaments in Indian cricket, he is unhappy with the ignorance the Ranji Trophy receives from the media and the stark contrast in terms of salary players receive from both tournaments.

“What this IPL has shown is that once again, one performance can catapult an unknown player into the reckoning for higher honours. This is in stark contrast to performance in the National Championship, the Ranji Trophy, where top-notch deeds do not even get headlines,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.

The former India skipper also said that such is the situation that one good season of IPL could be more beneficial for a player than even a successful Ranji Trophy career.

“There are many instances of these one-match performers being out of the game in a season or two, but one season of IPL often gives them much more than a whole career in the Ranji Trophy. While this imbalance can be attributed to the appeal of the IPL to the masses and thereby the huge broadcast and sponsorship rights, it does leave a sour taste in the mouth, especially for those who play almost thrice the number of cricketing games as in the IPL,” said Gavaskar.

“As if to rub salt into the wounds, at the end of the Ranji and domestic Vijay Hazare, Syed Mushtaq Ali seasons, those who have played the whole season do not even make the lowest base price of Rs 30 lakh of an uncapped IPL player. This imbalance can be reduced to a great extent if other associations, like Mumbai, match the BCCI's payments to Ranji players,” he added.

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