BCCI plans to host U-19 men’s tournament in June-July

In a letter to all the state units, the BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has stated that the Board plans to host the U-19 men’s tournament in June-July.

BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly has stated that the BCCI plans to host the U-19 boys’ tournaments in June-July if the COVID-19 situation remains under control in the country.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had suspended the junior inter-state tournaments last month, owing to the rising cases of COVID-19.

But in a letter to all the state units on Friday - a copy of which is in possession of  Sportstar  - the Board president Sourav Ganguly has stated that the BCCI plans to host the U-19 men’s tournament in June-July if the COVID-19 situation remains under control in the country.

READ: BCCI suspends junior cricket tournaments

“In this season, the BCCI has endeavoured to organize as much domestic cricket as possible. We are further looking to host the U-19 domestic season for men in the month of June/July 2021, subject to any Covid related disruption,” Ganguly wrote in the letter.

However, it needs to be seen how the BCCI plans out the tournament in June-July - when most states witness heavy rainfall.

Praising the players for being inside the bio-bubble for long, Ganguly was hopeful that the Board will be able to host a full domestic season this year. "It has been a good year for the Indian cricket team amidst all this pandemic. The historic and outstanding win in Australia and then the successful home series against England will be remembered forever," he wrote.

“All international and domestic players deserve immense credit for staying in a bio-secure environment for such a long period of time and yet delivering such high quality and wonderful cricket. I am hopeful that in the coming season we will be able to get back to normalcy and have the full domestic season and host the best-ever ICC T20 World Cup,” the president wrote.

“The BCCI staff deserves a lot of credit for all the effort they have put in, to organize cricket across multiple venues amidst these challenging times,” Ganguly, a former India captain, said.

Having organised limited overs’ tournaments for the senior men and women, the BCCI had earlier announced it will stage the under-19 boys’ one-day tournament. However, in a letter to state units last month, the BCCI had informed that the tournament will be pushed back at least till the end of the IPL.