Secret of India’s cricketing glory: It’s the long format, former players echo Ganguly

Ganguly, who captained India to the 2003 World Cup final, and was also the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from 2019 to 2022, was himself involved in the domestic structure actively.

Many former India cricketers have endorsed Sourav Ganguly’s recent statement to a Pakistan television channel about the Indian Premier League (IPL) not being the sole reason for India’s success in international cricket.

“Quality cannot come only from the IPL. Quality comes from playing four-day and five-day cricket. If you only play T20 cricket, you remain mediocre,” Ganguly had told senior Pakistan journalist Shahid Hashmi a couple of days ago.

Pakistani sports channel A Sports aired this in ‘The Pavilion’ show, which included experts like Wasim Akram, Misbah ul Haq, Moin Khan, among others.

The Indian cricket team, led by Rohit Sharma, has had a remarkable run so far, winning nine out of nine league matches and is the cynosure of all eyes as they take on New Zealand in the first semi-final in Mumbai on November 15.

Obviously, cricket fans, especially those overseas, are keen to know the secret formula of India’s great run in this quadrennial event. Ganguly, who captained India to the 2003 World Cup final, and was also the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from 2019 to 2022, was himself involved in the domestic structure actively.

Indeed, India’s domestic structure is fantastic, having an unbelievable number of matches in a domestic year – for instance, 1,846 matches between June 2023 and March 2024.

They include a majority of the four-day and five-day formats, like Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy for the seniors, the three-day and four-day Col CK Nayudu Trophy for Under-23, Cooch Behar Trophy for U-19, and the Vijay Merchant Trophy for U-16. It’s from these tournaments that talents emerge.

‘Domestic programme helps produce talented cricketers’

Sandeep Patil, former chief selector and swashbuckling batsman of yesteryear, agreed with Ganguly’s views and credited the BCCI for the same. Patil, a 1983 World Cup-winning member, told Moneycontrol: “The overall programmes that the BCCI conducts have helped. Credit to the BCCI for the way it is running cricket. When I was with the National Cricket Academy (NCA) as director, I used to travel to each and every one of the 27 associations then affiliated with the BCCI and have seen their under-15, under-17, under-19 programmes and the facilities provided by the BCCI and the money granted to them by the BCCI being used in promoting cricket and developing infrastructure. The way the domestic programme is being run by the BCCI has helped in producing talented cricketers.”

The 67-year-old Patil said that the rules and the format have changed over the years. “But, it is still a game between bat and ball.”

Patil lauded the BCCI for not only improving Indian cricket but also in helping world cricket. “I would say the IPL has enhanced the game in the country. It has taken Indian cricket two steps ahead. Not only Indian players but also overseas cricketers are benefitting from the IPL. BCCI, in fact, is helping world cricket. It is a fantastic thing.”

While Patil found nothing wrong with some of the youngsters preferring T20 over the longer format, he still said that real talent came from the longer format. “I have seen through my eyes as the director of NCA and as the chief selector the way various cricket tournaments are run in India,” Patil said.

Need right basics to succeed

Another former chief selector and talent spotter, Kiran More, said Rohit Sharma and Co, who have taken India to the semi-final of the World Cup, “are all Test cricketers first”.

The former India wicket-keeper who picked and guided many talents, including a certain Hardik Pandya, said: “When your basics are right, you always do well at the top level. Otherwise, you have short careers. You may be good for a year or two and you are gone. You have to credit all the state associations and the NCA for the emerging talent in India. Almost every state association runs programmes and our junior cricket structure is fantastic. The under-16 and under-19 players play four-day matches besides the one-dayers. The overall structure is very good and helps in the overall development of cricket in India.”

Skills come from playing longer format

More’s successor as India wicket-keeper in the 1990s, Nayan Mongia, is one of the beneficiaries of the strong domestic system and went on to play 44 Tests and 140 ODIs between 1994 and 2001.
Mongia told this website: “I endorse what Ganguly has said. The domestic structure has to be good and the players get picked for IPL and get exposure. You need skill, temperament to play international cricket. You need to survive in 50 overs, 20 overs. To become a good T20 player, you need good skill. Along with the power in T20, you need technique and skill, which comes from the four-day and five-day structure that is in place by the BCCI.”

“When you play the longer format, you get more time to adjust, more time to bat, more time to show your skill. But in T20, you hardly have four overs for a bowler to showcase your skill. Or for a batsman, you hardly get time to settle. I always believe that if you get the opportunity in the longer format, it will help you in the T20 format. T20 is not just power-hitting but you also need skills to execute the shots with power. For instance, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Virat Kohli,” he said.

“Rohit Sharma, among others, have the skills and have come up through the grind of four-day and five-day formats. They are not sloggers. Skill is of utmost importance and comes only from the four-day and five-day cricket,” Mongia said.

Speaking from personal experience, Mongia added: “I still remember my coach Mr DK Gaekwad in my early days, specifically saying that if one had a good defence, he will play international cricket for a longer time. Cricket remains the same. It is the temperament and how quickly one adjusts to the shorter format. You need skills that come from the four-day and five-day formats. If you don’t have the skill and the temperament, you can’t survive a Shami spell.”

Fool-proof system

K Bhaskar Pillai, a former giant of a batsman from Delhi, has seen how the domestic system succeeds through his capacity as the coach of various Ranji Trophy teams.

Bhaskar, one of those unlucky ones to have not donned the national cap despite great batsmanship and cricketing acumen, has coached Rajasthan, Delhi, Goa and Tripura over the years, before guiding the Bahrain national team now.

Pillai said: “During the 1980s and 1990s, there wasn't that much exposure. For us, everything was Ranji Trophy. Now, the whole scenario has changed. You have the ‘A’ tours, the under-19 tours among others. There are times when three national teams are travelling at the same time. Imagine the pool of players coming up. That is only because of the system that is followed.

“Right from the NCA, when you pick the U-16 and U-19 boys, there is so much continuity, so much exposure. The whole focus about making a player is about the sound basics that we coaches part on to the boys. If your technique is very sound, you adapt to various other shorter formats. If you are a good one-day or a T20 player, you may not survive in the longer format. It works the other way round. The basics need to be strong. And that’s exactly what the NCA does with very good qualified coaches. When you see players like Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer, they can adapt to all formats because they have come through the Ranji Trophy system. And, Ranji Trophy is not easy. Every state today has quality bowlers. Fast bowling has really improved over the years,” he said.

Bhaskar, who has been at the NCA as a batting coach and guided the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, among others, at its now-defunct batting academy in Mumbai, said the BCCI’s domestic system “is foolproof”.

“Earlier, we never had this kind of coaching system at the junior level. The guys doing well at the U-19 or domestic tournaments would get picked for the national camps and when the load was increased, there would be a breakdown. That is not happening now. Right from the academies to so many coaches trained in biomechanics, the training for today’s youngsters start at a very young age. They are ready and are able to withstand the strenuous workload. That has helped. You might have the odd injury for a fast bowler but the scientific coaching that is happening has started from the grassroots. The uniformity in coaching has drastically improved over the years. The modern- day cricketers are aware and are the best coaches themselves,” he said.