The BCCI has finally made a formal move to kickstart India’s much-delayed Indian cricket season with Jay Shah sending an email to state units on Sunday stating 10 January as the start date of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
The announcement, while a much welcome one, has also raised concerns about the future of the Ranji trophy - India’s oldest domestic cricket tournament.
The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is India’s domestic T20 tournament while the Ranji Trophy is the first-class event that has been running for over 80 years.
While the decision to start the domestic season with the T20 trophy was taken after taking into account suggestions from associations on which tournament they would prefer playing amid the coronavirus pandemic, traditionalists are raising concerns over Ranji taking a back seat specially with an IPL auction slated to take place in the first quarter of 2021 as well.
According the the BCCI’s AGM agenda, the board is set to discuss – and possibly approve – the introduction of two new teams in the IPL from the 2021 season and the staging of the T20 format event first is also being seen as the board prioritising the shortest format even further.
There is, however some hope as Jay Shah’s email stated the board would be taking more feedback about other tournaments
"The BCCI will subsequently seek further feedback from members on organising any other domestic tournament/tournaments,” said the email sent on Sunday. However, with the teams asked toe assemble at their respective venues on 2 January and the tournament running from 10 to 31 January, there is not much time left to play an entire Ranji season as the IPL is slated to start in April 2021.
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