India captain Rohit Sharma has said that it is important for the players to have enough rest and stay fresh for international engagements, even as he agreed that the BCCI was right in making it mandatory for members of the national team to play domestic cricket. The guideline on domestic cricket participation was one of ten from the BCCI that emerged this week, ostensibly in response to India’s poor recent run of Test results. Rohit was heard to say during a press interaction in Mumbai that his team-mates had expressed some concerns over some of the guidelines, including the restrictions on families travelling with the players.

Rohit was speaking at a press conference where India’s Champions Trophy squad was announced. But his comments about these concerns, as well as wanting to discuss them with the BCCI secretary, were directed to Ajit Agarkar, the chair of the men’s selection committee, ahead of the formal start of the press conference. Agarkar in turn told reporters that the BCCI’s new guidelines were not a “diktat” or “punishment”.

Rohit told the press conference that while he understood the BCCI’s call, there had not been much opportunity for India players to play domestic cricket of late, and none of them were taking their spots in the team for granted. “[In the] last six-seven years, if you go back and see our calendar, there hasn’t been a time where we were sitting at home for 45 days and there is cricket going on,” Rohit said. “You do get that time when you finish the IPL and if there’s nothing happening right after that. But if you see our domestic season, it starts in October – maybe September – and it gets over by February-March. And that is the time India plays a lot of [international] cricket as well. So, guys who are not playing certain formats and have time, and then there is domestic cricket happening, then they will play.

“But the last six-seven years – I can at least tell about what has happened with me since I’ve started playing Test cricket regularly, which is from 2019 – you hardly have any time. When you play so much international cricket through the year, you need some time off as well as a cricketer just to refresh, get your mind right, just to be ready for the upcoming season. But we have addressed it now and nobody takes it for granted or anything like that.”

Rohit, who last played a domestic first-class game in September 2016, will be playing Mumbai’s next Ranji Trophy match, against Jammu & Kashmir, next week. Among India’s Test regulars, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant are also set to play in the next round of games.

Agarkar conceded that it is difficult for players who play all formats to take part in domestic cricket but insisted that such guidelines are place to strengthen the Indian domestic system. “We’ll probably talk about it endlessly if we keep going on but I think everyone should [play domestic cricket] when available,” he said. “Sometimes, to be fair to a lot of the players, it’s difficult if you’re playing all three formats, you don’t get as much time… You’ll probably find most of the guys playing this round of Ranji Trophy. There’s been a little bit of [down] time.

“And those who are available and fit, obviously, you expect people to play. I don’t think it is a diktat. It’s one of the things that BCCI has obviously put forward. As selectors, we expect people, when they’re available, to play because that can only strengthen our domestic structure. Not just for their form or their fitness and playing cricket, but it can only strengthen our domestic structure.”

In its guidelines, the BCCI reiterated that not being available for domestic cricket could cost players their place in international cricket as well as impact their central contracts. The sanctions, it laid out, could also include barring them from participating in the IPL.

Agarkar said while this was not “school”, certain rules still needed to be followed. “When the time permits, we expect everyone to play,” he said. “Various things you see over the last few months where you can improve as a team, where you can get a bit closer as a team. It’s not a school. It’s not a punishment.

“You have some rules in place and when you’re playing for the national team you just follow those rules. Again, these are mature individuals. They are superstars in their own right in international sport. But at the end of the day, you’re eventually representing your country. There are certain things that you just inherently follow as every team does.

“A lot of them have been in place. Maybe we’ve spoken about it now and it’s been put out, but a lot of them have been in place in any case. You keep on refining it as you go along. Eventually what suits the team, you want to try and do.”

Although Rohit spoke about the mandatory participation in domestic cricket guidelines, when asked about his take on the “new policy” for players, he replied: “Who told you about this? Has it come officially?”