Why senior Ranji players move states

Virender Sehwag has moved from Delhi to Haryana, Wasim Jaffer from Mumbai to Vidarbha, Pragyan Ojha from Hyderabad to Bengal, and RP Singh will play alongside Parthiv Patel for Gujarat in 2015-16. These are just some of the high-profile transfers that have taken place this Ranji Trophy season.

A player moving from one team to another is not a new phenomenon in the Ranji Trophy, but it's the first time that so many big names are heading to different states. Let's look at why these transfers take place.

It has a lot to do with the players' ages and what stage of their careers they are in. Most players spend their best years with their home state for a variety of reasons. The relationship between a player and his state develops over time.

It starts with the state association acting as a provider and the player being the beneficiary. After a few years the equation changes, when the player starts repaying the faith and investment the state has put in him. He starts performing, winning matches and trophies for the state. At this stage the relationship is between two equals and both stand to benefit from each other.

The last stage of the relationship starts when the player begins to age and younger players are available. While the senior player's experience is key to the development of younger talent, his hanging on for too long has a detrimental effect. The state association is now less accommodating of momentary dips in form, making its displeasure felt in different - at times covert - ways, and the player is only one poor season away from being shown the door. Now, the player can wait for things to take their natural course, or make the decision to move to another, more accommodating state.

This makes you wonder: was it purely a utilitarian business partnership for the association's side? Every ageing member of a company is given due farewells, pensions and occasionally even consultant jobs after a stint at the highest level. After years of service, companies don't usually hand out a pink slip overnight when the employee, who helped them grow and flourish, has become redundant. When senior cricketers get the cold shoulder after years of service to their state, it speaks of the apathy of a body of individuals who perhaps don't understand the psyche of a sportsman or the culture of sport. It's an unhealthy trend. Players left in the lurch can feel a sense of betrayal - a feeling you wouldn't want to to live with for the rest of your cricket career and life.

If the senior men were allowed to watch over the youngsters, by playing alongside them and later as coach or consultant, a team will benefit tremendously. That vision seems to be missing from Ranji state associations at the moment.

Having said that, there's a tricky other side to the story. It's often hard for senior players to decide when to exit. The love for the game keeps them going. When they're on the wane, a false sense of hope that they will bounce back often clouds their judgement. The desire to play no longer seems proportional to their skill levels. It then becomes difficult for the state to carry on with them. It's a fine balance.

The move to turn "professional" at a late stage in your career throws up new challenges, for you are forced to start all over again -away from the comfort of home at that. When you play for your home state it's like representing your own, but when you turn out for a different state for first time in your career, you feel like someone who has been hired for a job.

The initial welcome lasts for a few weeks as a courtesy to what you have achieved in the past. But a professional must never overlook the fact that whatever he had achieved was for a different team and that he must start afresh for a new team. A good performance in the first few games is critical to gaining acceptance within the team, for a professional is only as good as his last score.

The other thing that a professional must do is to practise being detached from the workings of his adopted state association. In your home state you forge relationships over a period of time and so earn some power to sway decisions, but in a new team this isn't possible. Stick to what you know best - scoring runs and taking wickets.

One responsibility a professional must assume is to nurture young talent even if his presence might be limited to only a couple of seasons with the new team. People like Sehwag, Jaffer, RP and Ojha have a wealth of experience to share and it's their duty to impart that knowledge to the younger lot. While a professional is paid for the runs or wickets he's likely to contribute, it does a world of good to the game of cricket itself if he goes that extra yard to make others better players. Better first-class cricketers will make Indian cricket robust.

But is the move to a new state as straightforward and an option for every senior player? In theory it should be quite simple for a former Test player or a successful first-class cricketer to find a new state, but in reality it isn't. Unlike IPL teams, a state association's revenues aren't dependent on the number of people turning up to watch the game or on the logos on the team jersey. So decisions are always made for the right cricketing reasons. In the IPL, we see owners justifying some unrealistic purchases based on a player's brand equity and mass appeal, but in the Ranji Trophy it's only about current form.

I proposed the names of an international player and a successful first-class player to a state that was looking for professionals for the upcoming season, but neither got the nod since the state felt one hadn't bowled enough overs and the other didn't click with the bat last season. Their work experience over the past decade counted for absolutely nothing in the domestic transfer business.

The Ranji Trophy is played out in empty stadiums, is barely covered by the mainstream media, and lacks the glamour of the IPL. But it'll be a grave mistake to underestimate the importance of this tournament.