Sourav Ganguly likely to be included in BCCI's FTP working group

What's the story?

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly is very likely to be included in the BCCI's Future Tours Programme (FTP) working group. Also, the inclusion of the board's CEO Rahul Johri can be finalised only if the Committee of Administrators (CoA), which is currently running the BCCI, presses the office bearers to do so. It was on the previous Monday that the BCCI's general body had decided to form a working group in order to analyse the FTP from 2019-2023.

"Both the acting secretary and the treasurer believe that Ganguly should be included as this is a purely cricket related issue. A cricketer of his stature giving inputs on FTP would be a great thing," said a senior official, who was present at a Special General Meeting (SGM) conducted by the BCCI.

In case you didn't know..

On December 11, the proposed FTP between the World Cup in 2019 and 2023 included 81 home matches for India, while overall, they were scheduled to play more than half their cricket against Australia, England and South Africa. The number of Tests would be reduced but the share of T20Is would be increased, and India would prefer to tour South Africa and Australia only towards the new year period.

Another matter addressed by the new FTP was the workload of the players: as per the current four-year cycle ending 2019, India would be playing 390 days of cricket besides all ICC tournaments; but in the next such period, their match days will be trimmed to 350 including twin ICC tournaments at home.

The heart of the matter

The working group to be formed for examining the FTP would, in all probability, be having three office-bearers: acting president CK Khanna, acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary and treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry among other members. It is also heard that each zone will have one representative and Ganguly, the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), is someone whom virtually everyone has asked for to be present in the working group.

What's next?

Before the expiry of the currently running FTP, India are scheduled for confirmed tours of South Africa and England with a probable tour of Australia in 2018 with their home season scattered between the visits to England and Australia. The twelfth edition of the ODI World Cup is due to be hosted by England in June 2019 after which the proposed FTP is slated to begin.

Author's Take

A cricketer having the experience and wisdom of Ganguly should always be welcome in crucial matters related to the betterment of the game in the country. What he also brings is a great knowledge of an administrator and a rare quality in former cricketers who mostly opt for a career in commentary and coaching.