The Ranji Trophy home and away concept should be brought back: Dinesh Karthik

This season of Ranji Trophy was played at neutral venues which helped the cause of batsmen to a huge extent as there were five triple centuries and 19 double centuries during the course of the season. Dinesh Karthik was of the opinion that the BCCI should go back to home and away structure.

He said that the number of triple centuries scored showed that the Ranji Trophy was tilted towards the batters and the bowlers had a hard time coping with it. This is the proof that many tracks were batsmen friendly.

“I feel the number of 300s that happened in domestic cricket this year were too many. I think there were about five or six 300s and it goes to show that sometimes they’ve played on tracks that are suited to bat,” Dinesh said while talking to Wisden India.

He was of the opinion that the BCCI should get rid of the toss system and give the privilege to the away side. This will ensure that the home side prepares a competitive pitch and that will not be a rank turner or a green top.

The 2015-16 season saw home side prepare a pitch that suited them. The result of this was that the matches were getting over within two or three days. To avoid this BCCI went on to adapt the neutral venues for the 2016-17 season.

Karthik said, “The Ranji Trophy home and away concept should be brought back instead of neutral venues. I think they should do away with the toss. If they can do that, it will bring a balance to both the teams, the quality of wickets that are going to be prepared, and it will also be good to play in front of whatever home support. Even if it’s 200 to 300 people, you know they’re cheering for you.”

Amol Mujumdar, a former Ranji Trophy player for Mumbai also agreed with Karthik. He was of the opinion that the home pitches have to be made with right intent and honesty should be shown while reporting it. Mujumdar said, “Personally, I feel the home and away concept is a very good system. It is just about the state association being honest in their intent while preparing the wicket.”

He also gave an interesting idea of BCCI appointed curators. This will ensure that the curators will be neutral and the game will be a sporty one. He said, “The pitches have to be made correctly, and reported correctly. If that happens then you don’t have to shift any matches away from home. BCCI appointing curators for all games is one idea, and also not having the toss and allowing the visiting team to decide what they want to do could be another solution.”

Dinesh Karthik also talked about not having tea, he said that English people have tea because the weather there is cold and they love tea. In India it is a different thing altogether. He said, “It’s just a tradition. In India, we still have tea. Tea was brought in in those days in England because it was cold and the English players like tea. These are traditions we’ve been following over a period of time. It’s fine to have tea but I think we can do away with the toss.”