BCCI forms committee to review domestic scheduling following Shardul's complaints
As per the latest development, the BCCI Apex Council in its meeting on Monday formed a four-member committee to assess and suggest improvements in India's domestic cricket. The committee comprises head coach Rahul Dravid, NCA director VVS Laxman, chief selector Ajit Agarkar, and General Manager Abey Kuruvilla. Notably, Shardul Thakur recently complained of a hectic workload in the domestic circuit. Here are further details.
What did Shardul say?
Shardul was a part of Mumbai's winning squad in the 2024 Ranji Trophy. The all-rounder pointed out that Ranji matches being spaced out only by three days was a major reason behind injuries. "The knockouts had five days in between. Now we have seen that all matches are played with three days' gap, so it is extremely tough for the domestic players," he said.
We need to hear players: Dravid
Reacting to Shardul's comments, Dravid stated that the players' pleas needs to be heard. "You need to hear your players, because they are the ones going through the grind and putting their bodies on the line, and if there are enough voices saying that, then yeah, I think there's some need to look at it," he said.
Tournaments can be cut down
One of the solutions Dravid suggested was to cut down some tournaments. "Maybe we need to re-look and see whether some of the tournaments that we are conducting are necessary in this day and age or if they are not necessary," he said. "There needs to be an all-round review [involving] coaches and players."
Hectic schedule for domestic players
The recently-concluded domestic season kicked off with the Duleep Trophy and Deodhar Trophy. The two tournaments were played between June and August. The schedule was packed following a monsoon break with the Irani Trophy, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and Vijay Hazare Trophy being played from October to mid-December. Following this, the Ranji Trophy was played over ten weeks.
Changes in Ranji Trophy scheduling
In another development, BCCI is likely to alter the Ranji Trophy calendar for the next season. They will not schedule any matches in the northern part of India during the months of December and January as fog and bad light often play spoilsport in these regions. For the past few seasons, the tournament has been running from January to the second week of March.
