Robin Uthappa explains why quality of Ranji Trophy has dipped: ' Feel bad a purist and India cricketer'

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Robin Uthappa has expressed his sadness at the degrading state of Ranji Trophy, India premium red-ball tournament which has given India hundreds of international stars. Uthappa, while talking on the sidelines of ISPL 2024, explained why Ranji Trophy was witnessing a dip in quality in the recent times.

The former India batter, who played 146 first-class matches in his career, stated that an overhaul was needed to resurrect the quality of Ranji Trophy. He said the new teams involved in the tournament should be separated into a different group, or a new competition should be introduced altogether for them.

Notably, a total of 28 teams competed in the Ranji Trophy 2023-24. Uthappa suggested that a tier-2 competition like one in England's County Championship can be introduced for the new teams who find themselves difficult to compete against quality opponents like Mumbai and Tamil Nadu.

"Ranji Trophy has got diluted a bit. There should be new teams but a separate ecosystem for them because when they come in the mainstream the quality gets diluted. That impacts the quality of our premium tournament like Ranji Trophy," Uthappa said on the sidelines of ISPL.

"A separate group, tier 2 or competition for the new teams will work better to keep the value of the Ranji Trophy. For someone who has played Ranji Trophy for 20-25 years, the importance of the tournament has gone down and that's unfortunate to see it from the outside," he added.

The 38-year-old, who is an active broadcaster after retiring from Indian cricket in 2022, said picking 50 wickets or scoring 800 runs was a rare achievement in the Ranji Trophy seasons of the past. He asserted that Ranji Trophy should once again be made the hardest tournament played in India.

"Picking 50-70 wickets was rare and possible in only once in three years, and now it's happening every year. Scoring 800 runs were not that easy to make, but many batters are making, and that tells about the level of the tournament. I feel bad as a purist. For me Ranji Trophy as an Indian cricketer is a premier tournament and should be the hardest competition which we play outside of the IPL in India," he said.

'I also want to know the truth about Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer'

Further, Uthappa said that speculating reasons which led to axing of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from BCCI's central contracts should be avoided. The former CSK, KKR and RR star stated that he was also curious to know the actual reason.

"See a lot of people are involved in the central contracts. Administrators are involved, coaches are involved, selectors are involved. We can speculate the details while sitting outside but they know the details - what has happened, the communication with the players, what clarity has been given.

"Unless we hear it from the horse's mouth we would just keep on speculating but I think we should not speculate and wait, and ask the pertinent people these questions so that we can get the truth. I am in your state today, I am a broadcaster and I will like to know the truth as well instead of speculating. Let's wait for the truth. Fast bowlers getting central contracts is an incredible move in the right direction for Indian cricket," Uthappa said.