BCCI to make a few amendments in domestic cricket

In a meeting between captain and coaches of various Ranji Teams and the BCCI, heavy opposition to BCCI’s move of playing games at neutral venues was received. The neutral venues concept was introduced by the BCCI last season to eradicate any advantages to the home side. The annual meeting was held in Mumbai on Tuesday and various other issues were also discussed.

At the moment, BCCI is considering having a neutral curator if the concept of home and away games is brought back. The technical committee will take the final call before the verdict is out. The logic is understandable as a neutral curator, who will be controlled by the Board instead of the home team, will nullify the undue advantage of the home side.

“This is a move is to ensure that the curator is acquainted with the conditions of the area. He will be controlled by the board and not by the state units. It is aimed to protect the concept of level-playing field,” said a BCCI source, who attended the meeting.

Recently, in a bid to end the undue advantage of the home side, County Cricket in England decided to do away with the toss, something which was pondered upon in the meeting on Tuesday. There was some opposition to the move by a few captains and the final decision is left to the technical committee.

“There were views supporting both the formats. Instead of making a calculation of how many people were on which side, what was done was that points made to substantiate a certain position on either of the two formats have been collated,” acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhry said. “They will be brought to the technical committee and then put before the general body.”

The other aspect discussed was the umpiring standards at the domestic level. The practice of handing out reports on the quality of umpiring after each game, which was stopped last year, will be revived this year to ensure that the umpiring standards are up to the mark.

Players complain about low pay 

Harbhajan Singh had recently raised the issue of poor pays for domestic cricketers and this point was also in discussion in the annual meet. Players complained of not getting well paid and pointed out that the domestic cricketers of England and Australia are better paid than their Indian counterparts.

Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament was played between five teams of different regions this year. There was a section of people who opposed this move and suggested to have two-three groups playing the matches then starting to the zonal level.

Along with the BCCI members, the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrative (CoA) members were also in attendance at this meeting.