BCCI considers Ranji Trophy B division associating Bihar, Puducherry and five north-eastern states
The BCCI is now planning for a B division of Ranji Trophy tournament which may feature Bihar, Puducherry and five north-eastern states. Earlier, in its recommendations, the Lodha committee had proposed that all the states should come under the ambit of the BCCI with equal voting rights.
A BCCI technical committee meeting was held in Kolkata last Saturday, in which it was discussed the participation of all states in the national league, according to reports. Henceforth, if the proposal is accepted in next general body meeting, then we can see teams from Bihar, Puducherry and five north-eastern states playing against each other in a separate B division of Ranji Trophy. The matter first came to the fore when Saba Karim appealed to include Bihar in Ranji Trophy which was banned after participating in the 2003-04 session.
Prior to this, the Supreme court appointed justice RM Lodha committee had recommended that all states should come under the ambit of BCCI with equal voting rights and in January, the court had also directed the board to accommodate Bihar in the Ranji Trophy.
After the meeting in Kolkata, BCCI spokespersons said the new teams don’t have experiences of playing at the highest level which can be resulted in degrading the quality of Ranji Trophy matches, so they are planning for a B division of Ranji Trophy games.
“These teams have no experience of playing at the highest level. There could be heavy mismatches and some matches could degrade the standard of the Ranji Trophy. It is better these teams play at a slightly lower level and get promoted in a few years,” a top BCCI official told TOI.
BCCI also expressed its concern over poor infrastructure and quality stadiums in those states.
“There are other issues as well. These states will be getting a full grant from the board, which is a hefty amount, but they don’t have much of an infrastructure to maintain or build. Then there will be issues of sourcing players from other states and
First, it was decided to include Bihar in Ranji Trophy from 2018-19 season after Bihar Cricket Association moved to the court seeking permission to participate in the prestigious tournament. But the proposal to add them was turned down in the meeting citing if Bihar will be given a permission then other states might move to court.
BCCI also confirmed that the Irani Cup will be played as usual between the Ranji Champions and Rest of India, contrary to the reports, which claimed that it has been removed from the annual calendar.
“The board’s press release didn’t mention the Irani Cup but it will be played after the Ranji Trophy. The board only released the proposed changes,” a BCCI official clarified.
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