100% domestic cricket is more important than IPL: Dhawal Kulkarni

Jodhpur, Sep 24 (IANS) Amid the rising trend of playing IPL among youngsters, former India pacer Dhawal Kulkarni stressed that playing domestic cricket is more important if the ultimate goal is to play Test cricket for the country.

Kulkarni, who announced retirement last season after playing 18 years of domestic cricket, said performing consistently in domestic red-ball competitions is not easy.

"100%, when you play domestic cricket then you get a chance to play in IPL. Playing domestic cricket is very important if you want to play Test cricket for India. In Mumbai cricket, whenever an international player is free he plays in domestic cricket as we've set that standard. It is not easy to perform consistently in domestic cricket," the former Mumbai pacer told IANS.

"Meanwhile, IPL is also important but I give more importance to domestic cricket. You get the idea of conditions in domestic cricket. There is no option other than domestic cricket to play Test," he highlighted.

The stalwart of domestic cricket reflected back on his career and expressed satisfaction with his achievements which include five Ranji Trophy titles with Mumbai.

"I planned to retire well in advance last season. I don't think many fast bowlers have played domestic cricket for 18 years. It was a very good span and many young fast bowlers were also coming into the Mumbai team and they were not getting the opportunity because of me. I thought this was the right time for them to come into the team and perform," Kulkarni said.

"Currently, the Mumbai team has Tushar Deshpande, Mohit Avasthi and Shardul Thakur as three mainstream pacers in the playing 11 and many young talents are knocking on the doors. I also thought to shift to coaching and my exit was a dream come true as Mumbai won the Ranji Trophy final. I bagged the first and last wicket in that match so it was a proper send-off for me," he added.

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