Vijay Hazare Trophy | Mandeep Singh, Shreyas Iyer disappointed with washout rules
Mandeep Singh and Shreyas Iyer, skippers of Punjab and Mumbai respectively, have expressed their discontent over the Vijay Hazare Trophy rules regarding the washout of a knockout game. However, Iyer also pointed out that the rules of the tournament had been set beforehand and agreed to by all.
A distraught Punjab skipper Mandeep Singh had the air of a man who has endured one too many swings of misfortune as rain meant that his team was denied a stint at the semi-final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019-20 through circumstances beyond their control. The progression to the semi-final was decided on the basis of higher wins in the league stages. Tamil Nadu had won more games (nine) in the league phase than Punjab (five) had, which meant it was Tamil Nadu who progress.
The disadvantage faced by Punjab was that Tamil Nadu played in Group C which had ten teams, while Punjab was in Group B which had nine. So even if Punjab managed to win every league game, they would have been eliminated at Tamil Nadu's expense.
"Going out like this is very unfortunate and I think it's a very bad rule, to decide something like that," Mandeep said to ESPNCricinfo after the washed out quarter-final at the Alur 1 ground in Bengaluru. "Fighting it out in the A, B groups - the two groups that have the best 18 teams... Had it rained yesterday, Pondicherry would have qualified (ahead of Karnataka, in the tournament's first quarter-final). Doesn't make any sense, but cannot help it.
"Teams will prefer to play in groups C and D then, if the rules are like that. Very unfortunate and really not happy about this," he added.
While the quarter-final between Karnataka and Puducherry wasn't rain-affected, if there had been a no-result, Puducherry would have gone through on the basis of net run-rate as both teams had seven wins each in the league stage and a head-to-head result was not present. Puducherry's net run-rate (3.523) was better than Karnataka's (1.17) and would have carried the former through even though both figures were the result of considerably different circumstances, achieved against the notably dissimilar quality of opposition.
Mandeep expressed regret over the absence of a reserve day for knockout matches. According to him, it is fine for the league stages but knockouts should have a reserve day lined up.
The Tamil Nadu-Punjab quarter-final was cut short when it was evenly poised while in the other one, Mumbai was utterly dominant over Chhattisgarh but they couldn't finish the job due to the weather and were subsequently knocked out. Shreyas Iyer, the Mumbai captain, was in agony.
"It's really disappointing. We gave our heart, soul and tears for this amazing tournament, and unfortunately, the way we started the season, rain was affecting every game," Iyer said. "So we can't blame anyone in this situation. We'll take it in our stride and move forward. The boys are also very… disappointed from inside."
The Mumbai players showed how keen they were to get a full 20 overs in by helping out the ground staff in pulling the covers on the ground. But it turned out to be all for nothing and disappointed as Iyer was, he also pointed out that the rules and regulations for the tournament had been set beforehand and agreed to by all.
"We had our BCCI meeting before the tournament started and they had specifically said that these are going to be the rules and regulations if it rains," he shrugged. "So we've got to take that into consideration and move ahead. Can't think about it now."
Mandeep admitted he was not made aware of the rules governing washouts in knockout matches, but held on to his statement that the playing conditions as they were, made little sense, while also attending towards the inequity of having teams in Groups A and B mapped onto the same points table.
"Honestly, I didn't see it (the playing conditions). Maybe our association is aware because I am more focused on my team, my players," Mandeep said. "And we never thought something like this would happen. Groups A and B are very tough. While being in Group A, you are competing with the teams in Group B and vice versa. Let's say we had won all our eight games, even then we would have been eliminated. So there is not much logic there."