We will certainly have the full-fledged Ranji Trophy red-ball tournament, informs Sourav Ganguly

Cricket had to be paused in the whole country due to the pandemic and now that, Indian Premier League is happening, questions started emerging whether BCCI would take the risk to start the domestic competitions in the country. Finally, to answer those questions, the BCCI Apex Council met on Saturday evening and a good amount of time was spent on discussing the domestic calendar which had been thrown in disarray by the surging cases of COVID-19 in India.

After the meeting, the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly cleared the air around the schedule and stated that the domestic cricket season in India will ‘tentatively’ begin on January 1, 2021. Furthermore, even as it will be difficult for the board to accommodate all the domestic competitions this season due to the prevailing pandemic, Ganguly was confident that an unhindered Ranji Trophy season could be conducted. 

"We have had extensive discussions on domestic cricket and we have tentatively decided to start the competitions from January 1, 2021," Ganguly told PTI following the Apex Council Meeting.

"We will certainly have the full-fledged Ranji Trophy red-ball tournament. It will probably not be possible to hold all tournaments. We also have elaborate plans for our age group and women's cricket. We will start with Ranji Trophy and then we will also have the other tournaments between March and April."

Reacting to Ganguly's announcement, the state associations reportedly claimed that they have not been consulted to understand the prevailing situation and the issues with their respective states. They also stated their concerns over no communication by the board so far with them to address the necessary requirements to hold a tournament which involves 38 state associations participating in it.

"There is a lot that goes on before a state team plays domestic cricket. We also have to look at bio bubbles and the challenges of organising matches in these times. At the end of the day, these matches have to be organised by the state units,” a state association official told as reported by Cricbuzz. 

"Everyone understands that in these times, it's difficult to plan out things, but it would have been better if the BCCI would have had a virtual meeting with all the state units together to understand their worries and suggestions regarding domestic cricket."