Former Indian head coach suggested Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli start from the basics and start playing domestic cricket to regain their form. The Indian star duo were seen struggling to score runs in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy, for which they faced a lot of criticism amid their poor form. India lost the five-match series to Australia 3-1; after this, the Aussies made their spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) final with South Africa in June at Lord's. This is just the recent defeat of Team India, but before this they got whitewashed by New Zealand on their home soil.
The Indian skipper Rohit Sharma managed to score only 31 runs in five innings, and Virat Kohli managed to score 190 runs in nine innings, despite scoring a century in Perth. Kohli struggled a lot in facing the off-stump ball, which was the main reason for his dismissal in the whole series. Rohit even decided to step out in the Sydney Test, and in the absence of him, Jasprit Bumrah led the team, who even led in the opening Test in Perth, which India won by 295 runs, but this time the story was a bit different.
Ravi Shastri suggested to both players that they should go and play some domestic cricket and contribute to the young generation with their experience.
"If there's a gap for them, I think they should go back and play some domestic cricket and see how it is. Because when you play Test match cricket for that length of time, it is important to play domestic cricket for two reasons: you're abreast with the current generation, and you can contribute to that younger generation with your experience."
Further he said,
"And more importantly, you get to play spin more than you will ever play. So if you see India as recorded, India on turning tracks is not the greatest. If you have quality spinners in the opposition, they can trouble you. And they have troubled India."
The next round of the Ranji Trophy will kick start on January 23. Rohit last played a domestic cricket match in 2016, while Virat played his last in 2012. Now, it will be interesting to see if both the star players will make them available themselves for Mumbai and Delhi, respectively.