Sachin Tendulkar feels revision of Duleep Trophy's format is the need of the hour

What's the story?

Former Indian batsman, Sachin Tendulkar, has opined that the BCCI needs to restructure the format of Duleep Trophy because he feels there is no bonding between the players who play in the tournament. Tendulkar wants the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly to discuss the structure of the prestigious domestic tournament during the board's Annual General Meeting.

The background

Named after Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji, the Duleep Trophy has been a part of India’s domestic circuit since 1961-62. Earlier, the tournament had a zone-based model where the best players of the nation got divided into five teams depending on their geographic location.

However, BCCI scrapped that format in 2016-17 and introduced a three-team format where India Blue, India Red, and India Green battled it out against each other. India Red won the 2019-20 edition of Duleep Trophy.

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The heart of the matter

Sachin Tendulkar feels the team spirit is missing among the players

Talking to PTI, Sachin mentioned that the cricketers play according to the upcoming tournament's format in the Duleep Trophy. He explained:

“For instance if there’s an IPL auction, or an upcoming T20 tournament or one-day, players end up playing in that mode and not for their team or looking at the need of the hour."

The Mumbai-born veteran wants Ganguly to consider a new format for the domestic tourney. He expressed his opinion on the same and continued:

“Top four Ranji teams and there should be two more teams because there would be a number of teams with talented individuals but which did not qualify. You pick these players from various teams, also promote talented age-group players from Under-19 and Under-23. If there’s someone exceptionally talented U19 then you can look at those players. Bring them and have this tournament together. So you have got the best of both. You have got four leading Ranji teams who have been playing together."

According to Sachin, these modifications will help in restoring the prestige of Duleep Trophy besides having healthy competition in the tournament. The recent editions of the tournament have consisted of lopsided encounters and even in the final matches, the teams have recorded victories by an innings.