BCCI decided to play all Ranji trophy matches at neutral venues

The BCCI’s technical committee decided that all the Ranji trophy matches from the coming season will be played at neutral venues whereas the inter-zonal system of the Duleep Trophy will be replaced by four all-India level teams picked by the selection panel. The meeting, headed by former India captain Sourav Ganguly, that also attended by BCCI president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke.

“The committee discussed the format for Duleep Trophy for the season 2016-17. It was recommended that selectors would pick four teams to participate in a round-robin format tournament. The entire tournament will be a day/night affair,” a BCCI release stated.

India is going to have a busy season with a total of 13 Test matches against New Zealand, England, and Australia. Thus, Thakur proposed that all Test hopefuls and the fringe players should get a chance to get used to the pink ball.

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“The president feels that like Challenger Trophy, this season’s Duleep should have all the big players as well as Test hopefuls getting a chance to play with pink balls under lights. That’s why it has been decided there will be no zonal system this time round,” a member of the technical committee told PTI on Sunday.

Ganguly was said to be the one who had suggested about having a quality foreign team for the Duleep Trophy, but it was decided otherwise.

“Ganguly’s proposal was duly considered. But then we felt that supposedly we call a first-class side from Australia and if they lose the first match in the knock-out system, the purpose of inviting them would get lost,” the source added.

The major decision was having Ranji Trophy games at neutral venues. “In a bid to make domestic cricket more competitive and rule out the issues related to preparing specific wickets for home teams, as well as to expose players to play in different conditions, the BCCI Technical Committee recommended neutral venues for the Ranji Trophy matches This is a step recommended to make domestic Ranji Trophy cricket more competitive,” the release stated.

There were two options in the discussion one being the visiting team is given the option of electing to bat or field which has been used in the English county season, but then majority decided in favour of neutral venues.

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“Home teams using pitches to their advantage has been a long-time complaint. There were two options. Do away with the toss and neutral venues. Majority felt that neutral venue is a better option. Also, this would mean that some of the young curators will never be under pressure from home team captains,” a member of the technical committee said.

According to the release, “The Committee also cleared India ‘A’ tour of Australia in August for two four-day matches and a tri-series.”

The BCCI is also in talks with New Zealand Cricket (NZC) to conduct an ‘A’ team tour to New Zealand. The recommendations will now be tabled at the BCCI Working Committee.