Ravi Shastri: ‘What is the priority? India or franchise cricket?’

With India not producing a great show after three days in the World Test Championship final, many have questioned if the recency of playing 20 over cricket in IPL may have a lot to do with that.

Coming into Day 4 of the WTC Final, Australia were on 123/4 having taken a 296 run lead. With that, Australia have kept the upper hand that started from Day 1 and remained until Friday evening.

As bowlers leaked 469 runs, India were four down quickly to make matters worse. Eventually, India just about avoided follow-on after Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur scored fifties.

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Former India coach Ravi Shastri urged the players to set their priorities straight – IPL or national team. “You must set your priorities, right? What is the priority? India or franchise cricket? You have to decide that. If you say franchise cricket, then forget this (WTC final). If this is important, then as the custodian of the sport, the BCCI are the bosses. There should be a clause in the IPL contract that if they need a player out of the IPL in the interest of India, they have the right to do it,” he said on Star Sports.

“First, put the clause and then ask the franchises to decide how much they want to invest. That is very important. You are the custodian of the sport. You control cricket in the country,” he added.

The IPL final was played on 30 May (originally scheduled for 29 May) and the World Test Championship final got underway on 7 June with little time for players to travel, acclimatise themselves and shift focus from high octane cricket of T20s to red ball cricket.

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