Reserve day for Vijay Hazare knockouts is one option that can be considered, opines Sourav Ganguly
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has opined that having a reserve day for the knockout matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy is one of the options that can be considered with regard to the problems surrounding its organization. This season’s final is between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu on Friday.
On October 25, a new chapter will be written in the age-old rivalry between two star-studded teams who have dominated this year’s edition of the tournament. But apart from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu's dominance, the major theme this year has been the rain playing spoilsport in nearly half of the fixtures, and some questionable playing conditions, which led to two teams that seemed to have an advantage at the break being eliminated in two washed-out quarter-finals. When the question of the schedule was put before the newly-elected president and the board’s GM of cricket operations Saba Karim, both accepted the problem and posed a few solutions for the future.
"When the Vijay Hazare started, the rules were put down and sent to all state associations. We will assess it, try and make it simpler. The rule was that whoever won more matches went through, which is also a way of saying you give value to your performances in the group stages. So it's not something which is completely wrong. Yes, the pertinent point is whether a reserve day could be kept for the knockouts.
"The quarter-finals, semi-finals are very important, which is a practical thing. So yes, that could be an option, which could be taken. But you must remember, whatever happened, it was as per the basis of rules that were there from the start of the tournament," Ganguly said, reported ESPNCricinfo.
Karim, on the other hand, pointed out the several factors that affected the decision to go against the option of a reserve day.
"To keep a reserve day at this point is very difficult because we have to keep so many factors in mind. We need to ensure players get adequate rest. We also give breaks for Diwali [October 27 this year] and New Year. We did our level best to revise the schedule in the league stage, but here [in the knockouts] we don't have enough time. Weather is something we cannot fight.
"And issues can keep cropping up. If we give reserve days here, some team might say, 'Why not reserve days in T20s, why not in the Ranji Trophy?' However, having said that, we do have a captain's conclave at the beginning of each season so if the captains feel strongly about this, it can be discussed there," Karim said.
According to the BCCI's current rule for knockout matches, the first criteria is to see which team has more wins up to that stage. If that is equal, then teams are split by head-to-head results (if applicable), before moving on to the net run-rate (for league plus knockouts). However, Punjab skipper Mandeep Singh pointed out the flaw in such a system as his team would only play eight league games in Group B as compared to Tamil Nadu, who had nine games in Group C.
"Let's say we had won all our eight games, even then we would have been eliminated. So there is not much logic there," Mandeep said.
"This has come up now, so we'll have a rethink on it. That is why we circulate the playing conditions at the beginning of the season, and if state associations and teams have any issue, they can bring it up. So now that we see this issue has cropped up, we'll have a look at it," Karim said, in response.
Still, yet another factor plays a part when looked into — the aspect of the difference in quality between the different groups. Groups A and B are the toughest, with most of the top-rated teams - based on past performance - taking part there. But this is not the case in Group C or D, and so, if you are a well-run team with some depth in talent, it becomes easier to stack up wins in these groups during the league phase.
Then as wins are counted in the event of a washout in a knockout game, all wins are equal, whereas the reality is different. And Puducherry, who had racked up as many wins as Karnataka (seven) in their Plate Group, they would’ve gone through in semi-finals because of a higher net run-rate.
"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," Mandeep added.