You need to reward domestic performances, says Muzumdar

Mumbai: Even as he is toasting his team’s maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy title triumph on Saturday night at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Mumbai’s coach and domestic stalwart Amol Muzumdar has stressed that players need to be rewarded by the national selectors when they excel in domestic cricket.

- Gaurav.Gupta @timesgroup.com

The selectors have been under-fire for having ignored the likes of Sarfaraz Khan and Prithvi Shaw for India’s tour of Bangladesh despite their blazing form in domestic tournaments. “Not just these two, I think that a lot of our (Mumbai) guys deserve a look-in. I mean, we made it to the Ranji Trophy final too. You need to appreciate and reward performances in domestic cricket. There’s no question in my mind about it. Otherwise, why are we playing these domestic tournaments?” emphasizes Muzumdar in an interview to TOI.

How difficult was it for him to motivate Sarfaraz Khan, who was ignored for India’s tour of Bangladesh despite being showing off Bradmanisque form in domestic cricket, for the last two matches of SMAT, after the selectors had picked the team? With the India cap having eluded him despite scoring 11267 runs in 171 First-Class games in his epic career, Muzumdar has a fair idea of what a cricketer goes through when he’s snubbed for the top level despite performing consistently.