What’s the story?
The keenly-awaited Ranji Trophy captains' and coaches' meeting was held in Mumbai on Tuesday with most of those in attendance voicing their opposition against the BCCI’s idea to play the matches at neutral venues last season.
With BCCI’s top brass including acting president CK Khanna, secretary Amitabh Choudhary, and CoA officials Diana Edulji and Ramachandra Guha present at the meeting, the cricketers also requested a better pay structure to be implemented for the domestic cricketers in line with their counterparts from countries like England and Australia.
The two-hour long meeting also saw a number of other topics being discussed upon such as the standard of umpiring in domestic cricket, ways to reduce fixture congestion and reversion of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy to an inter-State all-India knockout event to name a few.
In case you didn’t know....
While the BCCI introduced the neutral venue concept for Ranji Trophy matches during the 2016 season with an intention of negating the home side getting an undue advantage with doctored pitches, the idea attracted stiff resistance from most of the teams with very low attendances as well as fatigue issues caused by long travel.
There were also instances where the teams couldn't get enough time to practice due to the crammed schedule while the lack of proper net bowlers was also an issue at some venues.
While the above topic was one which was on the agenda for a long time, the matter of increased pay which gained publicity when Harbhajan Singh requested Indian head coach Anil Kumble to take up the matter with the board officials, was also discussed at length at the meeting.
The details
Hyderabad skipper Subramaniam Badrinath was one of the most high-profile cricketers to criticise the neutral venue concept claiming that the fatigue caused by the constant travelling was leaving the players exhausted before matches. While BCCI are yet to take a call on whether they will revert to the old home and away system for Ranji Trophy matches, they made it clear that it will be overseeing the preparation of pitches with their own curators should that be implemented.
With regards to the pay structure, the players and coaches were united in calling for the BCCI to include the revenue earned from the ICC and the IPL to be included under the definition of BCCI income based on which the domestic match-fee structure is currently modelled.
Gujarat skipper Parthiv Patel's criticism of the umpiring blunder during the Irani Cup contest earlier this year also saw a mention with the captains and coaches asking the BCCI to ensure that top officials be appointed for important matches while a few even suggested that the DRS may be tried out.
Extra Cover: 2016-17 Ranji Trophy in numbers
What’s next?
While BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhary refused to lay down the numbers in terms of ‘for’ and ‘against’ the various topics discussed at the meeting, he emphasised that valid points raised at the meeting will be brought to the attention of the technical committee headed by former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly.
A final decision on the various matters will be taken at the General Body meeting at a later time.
Author’s take
With dwindling attendances and constant travelling proving to be a matter fo real concern for the players and officials, the 2016 Ranji Trophy played at neutral venues was underwhelming, to say the least.
It would be a welcome change to see the BCCi revert to the home and away format with curators appointed by the board overseeing the preparations of the pitch so that the home side doesn’t doctor the pitch too much in their favour.
As for the pay structure, Harbhajan’s plea has certainly given the domestic players some serious voice and as the world’s richest cricket body, the BCCI can well adjust their finances to increase the match-fee for the players who toil it out in India’s premier domestic cricket competition.
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