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Ranji Trophy: BCCI to conduct premier domestic tournament in 2 parts, league phase in February, KOs in June

BCCI Secretary Jay Shah said the postponed Ranji Trophy will be held in two phases starting next month, clearing the decks for India's premier domestic competition to resume after being cancelled last season.

Ranji Trophy

New Delhi, January 28: BCCI Secretary Jay Shah on Friday (January 28) said that the postponed Ranji Trophy will be held in two phases starting next month, clearing the decks for India's premier domestic competition to resume after being cancelled last season.

It is expected that the 33-team tournament will begin in the second week of February and the first phase will continue for about a month.

The tournament, which was not held last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was scheduled to begin on January 13 but was postponed owing to a third waveof infections across the country.

"The Board has decided to conduct the Ranji Trophy this season in two phases. In the first phase, we plan to complete all matches of the league stage while the knockouts will be held in June," Shah said in a statement.

"My team is working closely to mitigate any kind of health risk caused by the pandemic, while at the same time ensuring a highly competitive red-ball cricket contest."

Shah said that the BCCI understands the significance of Ranji Trophy. "Ranji Trophy is our most prestigious domestic competition, which has been providing Indian Cricket with an enviable talent pool every year.

“It is absolutely important that we take all necessary steps to safeguard the interest of this premier event," he said.

The BCCI announcement has come a day after its treasurer Arun Dhumal had said that the Board intends to host the event.

The two phases are required since the BCCI also plans to host the IPL from March 27 and hosting two big tournaments would not be possible practically as the players' availability would also be an issue.

Dhumal’s take

BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal on Thursday said that the board intends to hold the Ranji Trophy in "two phases" after they were forced to postpone the premier first-class competition due to rising cases of COVID-19 in the country.

The Ranji Trophy comprising 38-first-class teams was scheduled to start on January 13 but was postponed indefinitely due to the third wave of COVID-19.

With the BCCI planning to start the IPL from March 27, it is practically impossible to hold the tournament in one go but after requests from many state units, the brass held a meeting to discuss the way forward.

"We are exploring the possibility of staging Ranji Trophy, cases were going up when it was postponed, now they seem to be coming down.

“The operations team is working on whether we can do the league stage next month and complete the rest of the tournament later (post IPL)," Dhumal told PTI after the meeting.

The meeting was also attended by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah.

As of now, the plan is to hold the league phase for a month, starting in February till March and then have the next phase in June-July, when the monsoon starts in a lot of parts of India with peak summer in some other parts.

Story first published: Friday, January 28, 2022, 13:15 [IST]
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