Shouldn’t devalue performances in domestic cricket over IPL stints, stresses Wasim Jaffer

Former India batsman Wasim Jaffer expressed his concern over the growing precedence of IPL performance over that in domestic tournaments. In the recent years, there have been numerous instances when players who have been toiling in the domestic setup to earn their way up the ladder but missed out on getting into the national side and it's clearly troubling.

Jaffer clarified that he is not against giving more importance to IPL stints given the quality and reputation of the league around the World. But he went on to urge the authorities not to devalue domestic performances which test a player’s character given its duration and quality.

“I think nowadays a lot of importance is given to the IPL, which I don’t think is wrong. It gives a lot of youngsters a platform to perform against some top international players," Jaffer was quoted as saying by Cricket.com

“So I don’t think it is wrong but I think we don’t need to devalue the performances in domestic cricket,” he added. 

The domestic batting stalwart went on to point out the effort that goes into coming at the top in a league of such quality. Jaffer yet again stressed on giving the players who toil their way up through the domestic setup proper opportunities to respect the efforts they put in to get that high up in the ladder.

“A lot of hard work goes into a guy getting 1000 runs or 40-50 wickets in a single season of the Ranji Trophy. A lot of effort and determination goes into this. We need to value those performances also. Someone who is doing such performances year in and year out needs to be given their due for performing so consistently,” he signed off.