Vidarbha team with the Ranji Trophy title. (PTI Photo)
A jumbo logistical challenge confronts the BCCI after 37 sides will feature in the upcoming domestic season. Nine teams will be added to the Ranji Trophy calendar, with six from the North East making their first appearance after the Committee of Administrators (COA) gave the green signal to expand the pool of teams for all of the board’s annual domestic tournaments. As a result, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Pondicherry will debut in the Ranji Trophy and other domestic tournaments in the 2018-19 season, while Bihar makes a return after close to two decades.
The move is expected to lead to a heavy domestic calendar, after the decision of implementation of fielding all states teams was taken by the COA as part of recommendations made by the Lodha Committee.
The Ranji Trophy was a two-tier 28-team event till last year. However, with nine more teams to be included, the board faces a tough task of completing its domestic calendar which starts post-monsoon. The Indian Express understands that four groups A, B, C and D will be carved out. The ‘A’ and ‘B’ group will comprise top-ranked teams depending on their ranking in domestic cricket. The newer teams will be pooled in ‘C’ and ‘D’. Till last season, each group had seven teams. The tradition of promotion and relegation will continue. However, the worrying factor is getting as many grounds available for so many matches. The board and the CoA have decided that the North-East teams which don’t have the infrastructure, can play in other states and they can also avail the Railways’s facilities since the sporting behemoth boasts grounds all across India.
“Getting grounds will not be an issue but logistics will be a big challenge for us especially with nine new teams coming in. Apart from senior teams, these nine new teams will have various age groups teams as well for under 23, under 19 and under 16 tournaments,” sources said.
The board season will kick off with the Vijay Hazare Trophy whereas the Duleep Trophy is likely to be played in Chennai.
Presentation on yo-yo test
Meanwhile, BCCI general manager-operations-Saba Karim gave a presentation on the yo-yo Test which has been at the centre of a debate in Indian cricketing circles.
The Yo-Yo Test had led to Ambati Rayudu and Sanju Samson missing the bus for the India and India A teams respectively after they failed to clear the test. “We wanted to understand what the yo-yo Test is all about and we had asked Saba Karim to give us a presentation,” COA chief Vinod Rai told reporters.