South Africa vs India: BCCI may tweak tour schedule after Ravi Shastri’s complaint

After India coach Ravi Shastri raised a concern over the Indian cricket team’s cramped scheduling of international matches, the Committee of Administrators is looking to tweak the schedule of the T20 series in South Africa to be held during the tour early next year.

“There is hardly any scope to tweak the dates for the Tests and ODIs, but there could be a possibility to rework the T20 schedule. Basically, we are looking at providing enough gap between each format,” a BCCI source told Hindustan Times.

It is learnt Shastri is fine with the schedule of the England tour next summer. Virat Kohli and Co is due to start with three T20Is, and then play three ODIs and five Tests in the three-month tour beginning on July 3.

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The Indian team members have been playing almost non-stop. After the IPL and ICC Champions Trophy, they played a limited-overs series in the West Indies followed by a full tour of Sri Lanka, which ended on September 6.

India’s limited-overs series against Australia starts on Sunday. That will be followed by series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka that will stretch almost till the end of the year before they set off for South Africa.

FINANCE PANEL MEET

The decision of the BCCI’s finance committee to put its Thursday meeting on hold has not gone down well with the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA).

The panel wanted to seek clarity from the COA over the panel’s decision-making authority and hence decided to put all decisions, including hiking the match fees of domestic players, on hold.

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Hindustan Times has learnt the CoA will discuss the issue when it meets in New Delhi on Saturday. Sources close to the COA said all final decisions related to BCCI’s functioning rested with the panel.

“The Supreme Court’s order is quite clear — CoA will be the final authority. It is strange the finance committee wants to know whether it can independently take decisions. It can take whatever decision it wants, but ultimately it will be the CoA which will pass it. When the CoA was not there, it was the BCCI working committee that approved all the decisions taken by various committees. So, why create a fuss now,” a source said.

BCCI to foot J&K team’s bill

The CoA has told the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) that the BCCI will meet the state team’s expenses in the coming Ranji Trophy season.

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The BCCI has stopped all funds to JKCA over non-compliance of norms. The state unit has threatened to pull out the team from Ranji Trophy, citing financial crunch. The CoA has made a similar offer to the Rajasthan Cricket Association, which has been suspended by the BCCI.