Alas, the red cherry has lost its shine!

Ranji Trophy, India’s premier first-class tournament launched as ‘The Cricket Championship of India’ way back in the 1934–35 season, was for long the stepping stone into the national side.

Understandably, things have changed a lot almost a century since – and, colours have played a big role in that. Ask any Indian Premier League buff and you’ll know what we mean. Still, and because we have the luxury of time aplenty the longer formats of the game – Ranji, Test – offer, let’s dive deep. Wasim Jaffer, the highest run-scorer of a colossal 19,000 plus runs in Ranji made for Mumbai and Vidarbha, got but very few chances to stay in the Indian Test XI.

Entrants via the IPL have fared better. Amol Muzumdar (Mumbai) and Subramanium Badrinath (Tamil Nadu) are a couple more who scored runs by the tons for their respective states, but didn’t impress the national selectors. It’s difficult to break through on just one’s Ranji performance.

Here’s another example: All-rounder Jalaj Saxena was the top wicket-taker for Kerala in 2017-18, scalping 44 wickets, besides scoring 522 runs. During the Duleep Trophy in 2019, the talented cricketer became the only uncapped player to smash 6,000+ runs and claim 300+ wickets in first-class cricket. While we know almost every IPL player, can we say the same of these run machines?

Rahul Dalal, with 1,340 runs against his name, was the highest run-getter in the 2019-20 season. In the 2016-17 season, Priyank Panchal was the highest run-scorer, with an aggregate of 1,310 runs. He did get picked for the 2021 tour of South Africa, but returned with only the satisfaction of having been to some of the best beaches in the world. Shahbaz Nadeem, the left-arm spin wizard, who finished as the top wicket-taker (56 scalps) of Ranji 2016-17, had to wait two years to make his Test debut. He went on to play two Tests for the country, 18 months apart.

Vidarbha skipper Faiz Fazal scored 912 runs in 2017-18 and 752 in 2018-19, but still did not hear from the selectors. Fazal played a solitary ODI against Zimbabwe in 2016, in which he scored an unbeaten 55. The poor chap must be wondering ‘what more should I do?’

With the advent of T20, read IPL, the selectors expect a player to punch all the bags to be eligible for selection. Youngsters have often been preferred to seasoned campaigners, and that’s why players like Sheldon Jackson and Saxena have missed the bus, despite staggering numbers in the Ranji Trophy.

Didn’t Jaydev Unadkat make it to the Test squad against South Africa in 2010 on only the basis of a stellar show for the Kolkata Knight Riders? He hadn’t played Ranji then. Parthiv Patel too had no Ranji experience when he broke into the Indian Test 11 in 2002. Both made their First Class debut with the India cap perched on their head.

Of the recent lot, only three players will thank Ranji for their ascension to the Indian team: Rishabh Pant (972 runs in 2016-17), Mayank Agarwal (1,160 runs in 2017-18) and Hanuma Vihari (752 runs in 2017-18). The three made their Test debut in 2018. More than the first-class numbers, the selection panel has begun to give weightage to players’ IPL heroics, which is reflected in the choices they make. Wicketkeeper- batter KS Bharat, who impressed for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the second half of the IPL, is part of the current 16-member squad. His Ranji exploits are nothing to write home about.

But then, why shouldn’t it be so? The biggest T20 league in the world has played a big role in the growth of our raw talent. Provided the youngsters a chance to rub shoulders with some of the world’s greatest cricketers, share the dressing room and pick on their brains.

The Board of Control for Cricket has only played along. Not having the Decision Review System (DRS) in the recent Ranji Trophy final revealed its laxity towards retaining what little interest the tournament is drawing.