The best medicine for Indian batsmen is here : Let's do it the county way !

Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara is all set to represent Derbyshire in the ongoing English County season after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) approved his application to play county cricket post the humiliating Test defeat in England. Pujara had requested for a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the BCCI, which it has agreed to. He is expected to join Derbyshire in the first week of September. This I believe is a very positive step in the wake of the humiliating defeats faced by the Indian cricket team in the recent tour to England. The Indian batsmen were clueless to some quality English bowling attack. History says that all the Indian cricket players who have dominated the scene had all one thing in common, they had spent a quality amount of time playing county cricket. Be it Ganguly, Laxman, Dravid or Tendulkar all have learnt a lot of nuances of their batting skills from these county experiences.
A lot of youngsters playing for India these days , fail in the international circuit even after having an impeccable domestic record because of the fact thay they are only used to playing in Indian conditions. Whenever the ball rises to your chin or the ball moves fast across the wickets, they face problems. The only reason being lack of international exposure.
Another reason one should invest time in county cricket is because all the big names in the cricketing world play in some county team or the other. Yorkshire and Leicestershire for that matter have been host to a lot of players from the Indian subcontinent specifically. It is the best place to hone your skills especially if you are a batsman. It is indeed a matter of concern for a batsman who scores at an average of 50 in domestic conditions and while in a foreign condition his average drops to 20.
A classic example would be Gautam Gambhir who did not start his international career in the perfect way but once he got to play for Essex , he brought a whole new force to the batting of the team line-up and similarly there was a sharp drop in his form when he stayed away from county. The BCCI does not allow player to play for English counties if the calendar clashes with its Ranji and Duleep trophies. This has to change. The Ranjis and Duleeps are definitely important but if somebody has to make a mark like the Gnagulys, Dravids, laxmans and Tendulkars then he should be allowed to play county cricket.
The Indian women’s cricket team has significantly improved because of this reason. Most of it regular players have some or other county experience. The amount of T20 cricket being played or for that matter players being made to play is an area of concern. It does not really do any value addition as far as technical skills are concerned. So, the BCCI needs to look very proactively at this and tune its calendar so that players get enough time to play in county cricket.