Former cricketers slam BCCI for haphazard organization of Duleep Trophy

Things became even worse when 10 players had backed out of the tournament citing various reasons – most notably as some players were eyeing overseas stints with county sides. Although bringing together the player pool at such short notice was always going to be an arduous task, it cannot be used as an excuse for the board not taking into account the availability of the players and their current fitness levels. Also, there has been no fixed pattern to organize the domestic curtain raiser since last three years, which made the tournament nothing but a farce.

This haphazard treatment has left Vengsarkar and Srikanth flummoxed as Vengsarkar came down heavily on the BCCI for ruining the format of the tournament.

“The BCCI had made a mockery of the Ranji Trophy by staging it at neutral venues last year, thereby not only killing the interest of local spectators but also ensured that the players travel from Kashmir to Kanyakumari to participate in first-class matches,” he added.

Srikkanth agreed with the sentiment saying that the importance of the tournament has been diluted by the changed format, from zone wise to random teams. “The Duleep Trophy should be given prime importance. It’s a premier domestic event which is just one step below international cricket. As a player, you want to play for your Ranji team, then in the Duleep Trophy, and from there for Rest of India, or God willing, India. We should go back to playing it in the zonal format, instead of dividing teams into India Red, India Blue, and India Green. There’s a different charm and feel to playing for your zone,” he told The Times of India.