BCCI proposes curtailed domestic season

The BCCI has presented State associations with four options for a truncated domestic cricket season due to COVID-19.

This is the first concrete step towards organising any competitive cricket in India since the Ranji Trophy final concluded on March 13. - VIJAY SONEJI

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has presented the State associations with four options for a truncated domestic cricket season due to COVID-19 outbreak. The associations have been asked to revert with their preferred option by December 2.

In an email to all the BCCI affiliates, accessed by Sportstar , BCCI Secretary Jay Shah has specified the four options for the senior men’s domestic season. They are:  

Option 1: Only Ranji Trophy

Option 2: Only Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

Option 3: Both Ranji Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

Option 4: Both Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy

The email also details that the BCCI plans to stage the tournament/s in “six biosecure hubs.”

Podcast: Listen in to K. P. Bhaskar and Sheldon Jackson talk about the Indian domestic season

 

“The BCCI will have to create a total of six bio-secure hubs across the country. The 38 teams will be divided into five Elite groups and one Plate group. The Elite groups will consist of six teams each while the Plate group will have eight teams,” the email states.

The BCCI chief has added that the Ranji Trophy will require 67 days, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 22 days and the Vijay Hazare Trophy 28 days for completion. The proposed windows for the competitions are January 11 to March 18 (Ranji Trophy), December 20 to January 10 (Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy) and Vijay Hazare Trophy (January 11 to February 7).

According to the email, each of the six staging cities will have to have at least three digital broadcast-friendly venues.

This is the first concrete step towards organising any competitive cricket in India since the Ranji Trophy final concluded on March 13. While BCCI  in August sent out a non-committal advisory to the State associations, the BCCI apex council last month targetted January 1 as the start of domestic cricket.