One of the defining shifts during Agarkar’s tenure was the absolute emphasis placed on domestic cricket as a mandatory baseline for national selection. Following India’s disastrous Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia, the selection committee decided that turning out for domestic red-ball competitions was no longer optional for centrally contracted players.
Over the last year, several contracted players, including Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, and Yashasvi Jaiswal, were encouraged to prioritise domestic cricket whenever available. Ishan Kishan toiled hard in domestic cricket after losing the central contract before making a comeback to the national side last year.
The domestic cricketers, including Anshul Kamboj, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Mayank Yadav, Auqib Nabi, Gurnoor Brar, Manav Suthar, and Sarash Jain, reaped the rewards of this rigorous merit-based filter, highlighting the selection committee’s emphasis on rewarding domestic performances and building a wider talent pool for India across formats.