Fifty-fifty BCCI finally falls for Twenty20 charm

Chennai, Jan 20 (UNI) Shrugging off its apprehensions, the BCCI Technical Committee today decided to introduce the Twenty20 format of the game in the domestic calendar either by the end of March or the first week of April this year, board Secretary Niranjan Shah announced here today.

Talking to newsmen after the first meeting of the Sunil Gavaskar-led Committee here, Mr Shah said the matches would be played as per the International Cricket Council (ICC) rules.

''The venues and fixtures will be decided by the Fixtures Committee'', he added.

The BCCI's decision to introduce the Twenty-20 format in domestic calendar also comes in the wake of other ICC member countries doing so.

Elaborating further he said the matches would be played under the format being followed currently for the One Day limited overs tournament of the Ranji Trophy championship.

''From the zonal round-robin league competition, two teams from each of the five zones would qualify for the league tournament at national level. The teams will compete in two groups of five teams each, and the top two would contest the knock-out final,'' he said.

Mr Shah said in future, BCCI would also seek the involvement of corporate houses to conduct of the Twenty20 tournament.

''Then it can be marketed'', he said, and added ''we are also looking at the World Cup in Twenty20 format.'' More UNI