Duleep Trophy’s bad conduct hurts former India captains; Dilip Vengsarkar, Kris Srikkanth slam BCCI

Duleep Trophy is being played in Lucknow this year.

The conduct of Duleep Trophy, once a premier tournament in Board of Control for Cricket in India’s book, has became a point of discussion. First, it was restored in the domestic season by CoA after BCCI had decided to not conduct the tournament at all this season. Second, many players were injured or absent for this tournament. Now, former players have hit at BCCI for the way it is conducting the tournament.

Former India captain and selector Dilip Vengsarkar said that BCCI has made a mockery of the most prestigous tournament in the country after they made a fun of Ranji Trophy last year.

“The BCCI had made a mockery of the Ranji Trophy by staging it at neutral venues last year, thereby not only killing the interest of local spectators but also ensured that the players travel from Kashmir to Kanyakumari to participate in first-class matches,” Vengsarkar was quoted as saying by TOI.

“Not to be outdone, from last year, the technical committee changed the format of the most prestigious tournament of the BCCI, the Duleep Trophy by doing away with the zonal system with three teams, India Red, Green and Blue. The Duleep Trophy is supposed to be the most prestigious tournament of the BCCI and more often than not, the selectors picked the national squads after watching the zonal matches, played by the cream of Indian players,” he added.

Vensargar recalled that back in the day, BCCI had invited an England A team to participate in the Duleep Trophy which helped better the standard of the game in the country.

Recalling the importance of the Duleep Trophy when he was the chief selector, Vengsarkar said, “I remember in 2008, the BCCI had invited the England A team as the sixth team in the competition, apart from five zonal teams. The England A team had the likes of [Andrew] Flintoff, [Andrew] Strauss and Monty Panesar. As a result, the standard of cricket went up and domestic players got tested.

“Since international cricket is packed with tours and home games, the ideal time to stage the Duleep matches would have been in July-August either at Bangalore or Hyderabad or at Chennai where it doesn’t rain during the time. India Red, Blue and Green, to me, makes no sense.”

Former India opener and selector Kris Srikkanth echoed the same words and said that the tournament must be given prime importance as it is one step below international cricket.

“The Duleep Trophy should be given prime importance. It’s a premier domestic event which is just one step below international cricket. As a player, you want to play for your Ranji team, then in the Duleep Trophy, and from there for Rest of India, or God willing, India. We should go back to playing it in the zonal format, instead of dividing teams into India Red, India Blue and India Green. There’s a different charm and feel to playing for your zone,” he said.