MUMBAI: It is a sign of how far things have come in Indian cricket. Sudhesh Lad is an experienced first-class player. The 34-year-old Mumbai batsman, long known as his team’s ‘crisis man’, made his first-class debut nearly 12 years ago in November 2013, and has scored 5,623 runs in 82 matches @44.27 with 15 centuries and 30 half-centuries. Ladd scored five centuries – he was the highest run-scorer for Mumbai in the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy season with 774 runs @ 77.40 in eight matches. However, the consistent domestic cricket batsman has now lost faith in the Ranji Trophy, the platform from which national selectors pick potential Indian players. Speaking to TOI on the sidelines of the jersey launch event of T20 Mumbai League defending champions Mumbai South Central Maratha Royals on Thursday, Lad said he firmly believes that it is performance in the IPL, which is considered the only selection criteria. Season 4 of the T20 Mumbai League will begin from Monday at the Wankhede Stadium. Citing the example of Jammu and Kashmir fast bowler Aqib Nabi, who was the top bowler with 60 wickets at an average of 12.56 in 10 matches in the Ranji Trophy last season and helped his team win its first title last season, on being overlooked for the lone Test against Afghanistan, Lad told this newspaper, “I think when you are doing well in the PL, you are right. The bitter truth is that the performance of domestic cricket is ignored by the national selectors. The value of the Ranji Trophy has gone down. I will not deny it. I am not saying that I have done well, so pick me in the Indian team, but I think someone like Aqib Nabi, if he has worked so hard and won the Ranji Trophy alone for Jammu and Kashmir, which is not so easy, has performed exceptionally well in the Ranji Trophy, then he deserves to be picked in the Indian Test team. Elaborating on his point, Lad said, “I mean even IPL players know how difficult it is to play an entire (Ranji Trophy) season and maintain fitness. However, nowadays, if you don’t do well in IPL, or don’t have a good season in IPL, your chances of getting into the Indian Test team are very low. If you don’t play in IPL, it’s difficult for you to progress (career).” Nabi took 44 wickets @ 13.27 in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season. Describing the harsh reality of Indian cricket, Lad said, “You are giving a wrong message to domestic cricketers, that even if you perform well in the Ranji Trophy, it doesn’t affect your cricket career, but if you perform well in a few matches in the IPL, you can make it to the Indian Test team. Initially, if everyone plays like you in the trophy, I will play like you. If you don’t perform, you won’t.” will do But in the end, when we actually see a choice, that’s when a lot of things go wrong.” In such a scenario, would he advise the promising youngsters in the Maratha Royals team to focus on playing and doing well in the T20 Mumbai League and IPL instead of trying to get into the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team? “Definitely, I will say that. I won’t deny that if you see that you can play for India after just one season of IPL, which you can’t after playing Ranji Trophy for a decade, then it means we can ask the players to focus only on Ranji Trophy. If the player is doing well in the T20 Mumbai League, then there is a shortcut for him to play in the IPL later and make it to the Indian team,” Lad said matter-of-factly. As a thoroughbred of domestic cricket, Lad has been saddened by the way things have shaped up in Indian cricket in the present era. “I have seen many players who have done exceptionally well in the Ranji Trophy. However, just because they didn’t get that opportunity in the IPL, they never got a chance to make it to India’s Test team,” Lad said.Meanwhile, Lad and Maratha Royals head coach Amit Dani welcomed the availability of Mumbai and Rajasthan Royals fast bowler Tushar Deshpande for Maratha Royals this time.
