Rajasthan not included in domestic schedule following RCA's suspension

Pankaj Singh and fellow Rajasthan players in a state of bother

The Board of Control for Cricket in India have shut the door on Rajasthan Cricket Team’s participation in domestic competitions for the upcoming season. The decision has come after Rajasthan’s board allowed Lalit Modi to contest elections and become the President of the Rajasthan Cricket Association(RCA).

Modi was banned for life by the BCCI following his financial disciplinarians. When he was re-elected to the post earlier this year, the Indian cricket board 'indefinitely' suspended the RCA. With the interests of players in mind, the BCCI officials unsuccessfully convinced Rajasthan’s government in a bid to come up with a solution.

"Three senior BCCI executives had come to Jaipur to meet government officials to sort out the issue. However, the government officials did not even extend them basic courtesies, forget about help. The state's chief secretary hardly gave them anytime and the sports secretary made them wait in the court yard before meeting them," claims TOI in a report.

It was further reported that a solution cannot be reached as the government is not in a position to help on this matter.

"Not only were the basic courtesies missing, these officials were quite bullish. If nothing else, you are at least expected to treat senior BCCI officials like Brijesh Patel and Anirudh Choudhary with some respect," a source informed.

With the Rajasthan State Sports Act not permitting the BCCI to come up with their own ‘Rajasthan’ team, the players now face a dire situation.

Ranji groupings

Group A: Karnataka, Bengal, Mumbai, Railways, Uttar Pradesh, Baroda, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh

Group B: Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat, Saurashtra, Delhi, Vidarbha, Haryana, Odisha

Group C: Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Hyderabad, Andhra, Assam, Tripura, Jharkhand, Services.

Domestic tournament schedule for 2014/15

Tournament	Dates
Duleep Trophy	October 15 – November 3
Zonal one-day leagues	November 7 – 14
Vijay Hazare Trophy	November 19 – 25
Deodhar Trophy	November 29 – December 3
Ranji Trophy league	December 7 to February 8
Ranji Trophy quarter-finals	February 15 to 19
Ranji Trophy semi-finals	February 25 to March 1
Ranji Trophy final	March 8 to 12
Irani Cup	March 17 to 21
Zonal Twenty20	March 25 to 28
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy	April 1 to 7