Lalchand Rajput blames IPL for Mumbai’s downfall in Indian domestic circuit

Mumbai has always been the absolute pinnacle of the Indian cricket and their contributions to the golden goose that is the BCCI is unparalleled. And when we talk about the dominance, they are counted in the same breath as what Manchester United is to English football or Yorkshire is to English cricket. The team have won the Ranji Trophy as many as 41 times and produced more than 80 Test cricketers, with nine of them having led the country.

"Cricket is now a power game. Today, Mumbai's youngsters think of playing in the IPL, rather than for Mumbai. This mindset is wrong, because first and foremost, you have to try and play for your state, and then for your country. The IPL will come automatically. However, this mindset has changed because of money. This is the reason why Mumbai cricket has slowly come down from the level it was at earlier," Rajput was quoted as saying by ToI.

From many of the positives that the IPL has given to Indian cricket, perhaps the most important is that it has become a pipeline of progression from the Under-19 to the senior team for the youngsters. Under-19 players now need to prove themselves in the IPL in order to get selected for the Indian national team and it is no more the case that they only need to perform well in the Ranji Trophy. 

Clearly worried about the changing trends, Nayar said, "The stage is set for people to get picked for India through the IPL. The times have changed. You realise that Mumbai cricketers like Siddhesh Lad and Shreyas Iyer repeatedly do well in the Ranji Trophy, but sometimes don't get that call-up. However, as soon as a Rishabh Pant does well in the IPL, he gets an immediate call-up in the Indian team. So, the journey to get to the Indian team has changed."