Chandrakant Pandit wants Irani Cup as season opener once again

02/19/2019

Chandrakant Pandit wants the Irani Cup match to be the scheduled as one which will signal the beginning of a new domestic season and he has his reasons too. Scheduling the Irani Cup just four days after the Ranji Trophy final meant Champions Vidarbha had to curtail its celebrations and focus again.

Former Indian wicketkeeper Chandrakant Pandit and coach of the victorious Vidarbha team has once again opened the debate on the schedule of the Irani Cup, as he wants it to be the opening trophy for Indian domestic season.

"The Ranji Trophy is a long drawn tournament which takes more than four months and the winning team has to play at least 10 to 11 matches. The players will be tired after a long season and they will be carrying injuries. It is difficult for them to recover and start all over again and give their 100 percent for the Irani Cup a few days after the Ranji final.” he told the media, as reported by ESPNCricinfo.

"Personally I feel the Irani Cup should be held at the beginning of the season."

Earlier, from its inception in 1965-66 to 2012-13, the Irani Cup served to remind everyone of the star performers for the previous season. It also gave the Rest of India side - a selection of players without being much of a team - a good shot at winning the game. As an example, in the 15 seasons leading up to the schedule change, Rest of India lost just twice. Since then, they have won just twice.

Interestingly, Pandit's argument is based along the lines of what former India batsman and ex-selector Dilip Vengsarkar recently told Mid-Day.

"What's the point in playing the Irani Cup when the Ranji Trophy is just over? Irani Cup and Duleep Trophy should be the curtain-raiser for the season as they are the most important tournaments where players would like to display their form and fitness to stake a claim in the Indian squad for the season ahead," Vengsarkar said to Mid-Day.

"How does it help to schedule the Irani game just after the Ranji Trophy? It makes no sense to me and it defeats the very purpose. BCCI's approach to get done with tournaments is questionable.” He added.

Although, there have been no signs of any sort of move away from the current schedule on the part of the BCCI. However, with Saba Karim as the general manager of cricket operations, saying recently that he hasn't heard any complaints about the current arrangement.

"The season-opener is the Duleep Trophy. I've not received any feedback of the players being drained out for this fixture. Obviously the team that wins the tournament (Ranji Trophy) will play the most number of games," he remarked.

"If any such issue is there, it will be discussed in the captains and coaches conclave," he concluded.