The Ranji bowl without the cream

Last year's Ranji Trophy finalists, Mumbai and Tamil Nadu, have little time to savour their emphatic start to the season: for the next three weeks, they will struggle to field competitive XIs, after losing the cream of their talent to the Indian national side, and, quite inexplicably, to the India A team.

The Sri Lanka A tour, which begins today, finishes on December 9 - the first day of the fifth round of Ranji Trophy matches - and the players selected to play against them missing three vital Ranji rounds, which is almost half the tournament. To give the players exposure against foreign teams is one thing, to unsettle the top teams in the country's top tournament is quite another.

Mumbai have been hit the worst by the selection of the touring and A teams. Ajit Agarkar has been picked to tour Australia, while Munaf Patel and Ramesh Powar have been chosen to represent India A. With Aavishkar Salvi suffering a shoulder sprain, Sairaj Bahutule and Nilesh Kulkarni may be the only two recognised bowlers left in the Mumbai team.

Chandrakant Pandit, Mumbai's coach, said: "If the quality players are not going to feature in the Ranji Trophy then it is going to be difficult for Indian cricket to improve our standard. When three or four players from the same team are selected it becomes a huge problem. Considering the way Sairaj and Nilesh are bowling, they may also be selected soon, and then we will be left with nobody."

However, he also added: "Though it affects the team combination and morale, the players need exposure against foreign teams. I am not against such tours, but they should not affect the premier domestic competition. But this is an ideal opportunity for the youngsters to prove themselves."

Tamil Nadu will be missing two players who have been picked for India A, apart from S Ramesh and L Balaji who will be touring Australia. S Suresh, Tamil Nadu's captain, felt that a more planned approach would have served everyone's purpose. He said: "The quality of cricket would have definitely gone up if all the teams were at full strength. We surely can't perform at the same level that we have been doing, but I guess it is just bad luck. However, the youngsters will get a chance and will need to prove themselves."

When the Indian team loses, the talk immediately shifts to pitches back home and the structure of the domestic competition. The Ranji Trophy needs the best teams, to raise the level of competition and help players make a smooth transition from the domestic level to the big league. Sadly, the men who matter don't seem to understand that.