India is ruling white-ball cricket, with two ICC trophies in the last eight months. They won the ICC T20 World Cup in 2024 and recently claimed the title of the Champions Trophy in Dubai. The Men in Blue also made it to the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup but lost to Australia. Hardly any rival has challenged the supremacy of the sub-continent team in two shorter formats. However, the fortunes are different in Test cricket, with Rohit Sharma’s team losing at home and in overseas cricket.
New Zealand blanked India 3-0 in a Test series, while Australia registered a 3-1 win in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Former players have questioned the place of Rohit and Virat Kohli in the Test squad as the two have failed miserably.
They want the BCCI and the selectors to remove non-performing senior players from the unit before the five-test series in England. Navjot Singh Sidhu has devised a plan to make India the number-one team in the game’s longest format.
“We have been doing well in white-ball formats because of IPL. India have managed to find match-winners and our bench strength is strong. Some players can replace big names. We didn’t feel the absence of Jasprit Bumrah in the Champions Trophy. This is huge. The young players are winning matches in T20Is.
“However, we still lack in Test cricket and lost to New Zealand at home and then in Australia. I have a suggestion to improve our performances in red-ball format. The BCCI should allow four or five foreign players in each Ranji Trophy team, and let me tell you, this would help us. We would become number one in Test cricket. In IPL, our players play alongside overseas cricketers, which has helped them. This could be tried in Ranji Trophy,” he said.
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