Former India all-rounder and selector Mohinder Amarnath feels MS Dhoni and other senior players must play domestic cricket to be eligible for selection in the national team.

Having being dropped from the Twenty20 side recently and retired from Tests long ago, Dhoni now is a certainty in only ODI cricket. Despite having the time, the former captain did not play the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy this year and will go into the three-match series in Australia next month without any match practice.

“Every individual is different but one thing I have always believed in is that if you want to play for India you have to play for your state as well. I think they (BCCI) should change this policy altogether. A lot of senior players don’t play domestic cricket,” Amarnath told PTI on sidelines of an event organised by Royal Stag in collaboration with the ICC.

“The BCCI should make it an eligibility criteria. Not only a number of games, you should be playing regularly for your state if you are not playing for India and not only just before the India selection. Then only you can judge how good the guy is playing. Whatever you have achieved is all in the past. What is important is current form,” said the hero of India’s World Cup triumph in 1983.

Talking about the ongoing Test series in Australia, Amarnath said India are a superior unit but the depleted hosts are capable of giving them a run for their money even in the absence of suspended Steve Smith and David Warner. “Australian cricketers think differently. It is not the first time they are going through this kind of phase. At the time of Kerry Packer series, they lost their top players, they toured South Africa without their top players and now they don’t have their top two players and some of the guys have retired. They are in the process of building a new team. But from what I watched in the first Test, some of the players are really good. You can’t just rule Australia out of the series. Of course India are more superior but again they have to continue playing good cricket. “

“First Test was a fantastic Test match from a cricketing point of view. The only difference was Cheteshwar Pujara. It shows we are here for a thrilling series with advantage India,” said the 68-year-old, who played 69 Tests and 85 ODIs.

“It depends on nature of wicket. If the wicket is doing a bit, some of the batsmen struggle with their technique. It is not how aggressive you play, the key in Test cricket is that only when you leave good deliveries, you occupy the crease for a long time. It is not that they don’t have that in them but they have to adapt.” Amarnath’s longtime teammate Syed Kirmani had recently said the current selection panel headed by MSK Prasad was not experienced enough to challenge the decisions of captain Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri.