'How does a team learn to take 20 wickets?' - Sunil Gavaskar slams domestic cricket format

Gavaskar Takes Aim at Domestic Format: "How Does a Team Learn to Take 20 Wickets?"

Sunil Gavaskar has fired a warning shot at the structure of Indian first-class cricket, pointing to the Duleep Trophy 2026 final as a textbook example of why our bowlers struggle to complete the job on flat Test pitches.

The match itself was a one-sided affair on paper—East Zone posted a massive 708 in their first innings behind Ishan Kishan's monumental 270, before bowling out South Zone for 336. Yet the real story wasn't the scoreboard; it was what happened after.

Here's where Gavaskar makes his point. East Zone, sitting on a commanding lead, deliberately prolonged their second innings for another 100 overs rather than pushing for an outright win. Both skippers then agreed to end the contest by mutual consent before its scheduled close. To Gavaskar, this is a systemic flaw, not a one-off.

His argument is sharp and data-backed logic: if teams with a massive first innings lead simply abandon their bowling duties, our bowlers never build the stamina or experience required to grind out a 20-wicket haul. He directly linked this to India's recent failure in the two-match series vs Sri Lanka, where the side couldn't pick up the final four wickets on the last day—settling for a draw instead of a clean sweep.

The Sri Lanka example is telling. Lankan batters batted out 81+ overs in their second innings, finishing on 429/9 and denying us the win. That's exactly the kind of endgame resilience our bowlers look underprepared for.

Gavaskar's core message: development takes time, just like a batter progressing from 30s to a century. But that development can't happen if first-class teams aren't incentivized to bowl two full innings. Until the domestic format rewards finishing games off, India's 20-wicket problem on good pitches won't get solved.

Worth a debate—does the "first innings lead is enough" culture genuinely hurt our Test bowlers, or is this one match overanalyzed?

Source: Crictracker