Duleep, Challenger and Mushtaq Ali tournaments don’t serve purpose anymore, claims Sachin Tendulkar
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Sachin Tendulkar strongly believes that the Duleep, Challenger, and Mushtaq Ali T20 tournaments need to be re-invented or scrapped altogether as they don’t serve any purpose anymore. Tendulkar reckons that domestic events like the Ranji Trophy, the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the IPL are enough.
With international and domestic events packed into the schedule, Indian cricket has come to a critical juncture where some tough calls have to be made according to Tendulkar.Â
"Look at the Challenger. Players come from different states, zones, play together for a few days and disperse. There's no team bonding. Do we even remember these games? Teams are randomly chosen. The same applies to the Duleep Trophy in certain ways. It doesn't serve any purpose when players arrive overnight from different zones and play a few matches and go their separate ways. Even in IPL, teams stay together for two months," Tendulkar told TOI.
The legendary batsman believes it is time to rejig the Duleep Trophy and the Mushtaq Ali T20 — especially with the IPL in play.Â
"The four semi-finalists from Ranji should play the Duleep. The additional two teams should be carved out of the rest of the domestic players, and those who've done exceedingly well should be included. Here, the Under-19 and Under-23 players should be promoted. A player who doesn't fit in the senior team could well be playing against players in this space," he said.
"(On Mushtaq Ali T20) It's the same format. The IPL is serving that purpose and is getting revenue too, which is important," Tendulkar added.
