BCCI to begin domestic season from November 19
With cricket resuming in different parts of the world, BCCI is also planning to slowly get the derailed train back on track. After getting the IPL 2020 blueprint ready, they are now targeting the Domestic Circuit.
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Highlights:
- There will be no Vijay Hazare Trophy, Duleep Trophy or Challenger Series for 2020-2021 season.
- As of now, there is no certainty of Irani Cup as well for this season.
- Players participating in the IPL will have to quarantine themselves for 14 days on returning from Dubai after November 10.
Mushtaq Ali trophy and Ranji Trophy (December 13- March 10) consisting of 245 games (with 38 teams) will only be the Indian domestic cricket season in 2020-21.
The late start of Indian Domestic Season has closed the doors for Vijay Hazare Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Challenger Trophy for BCCI.
Leaving the Season only with the option of Ranji Trophy and Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Also, the chances of Irani Trophy taking place seems minimal.
“This is a tentative list that has been prepared and it has gone for approval of president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah,” a senior BCCI official told PTI on condition of anonymity.
While this is a draft schedule, it is being asked how the Indian players, who will return from IPL, will play since they will have to be in a 14-day quarantine as per government rules.
“That’s an issue primarily for the uncapped players, who would be with the squad and would like to play some cricket.
Now even a player’s team is knocked out before playoffs, he won’t be back before November 3 and till November 17 will be in quarantine.
“For those whose teams are in play-offs and may reach finals, they will have to miss the first few rounds in that case. But again this is a draft proposal and there could be some tweaks in it,” the official said.
The IPL season 2021 is also expected to kick-start in India either by the end of March or in the initial week of April.
This would be done so that there is a three-week gap between Ranji Trophy final and IPL new season.
Also, a much-needed recovery period for domestic stars will also be assured with a late IPL start after a hectic Ranji Season.
The speculations of Ranji going back to it’s Zonal Format are not worth considering, said the officials.
“The basic idea to stop the Zonal system was to ensure that there is uniformity in competition. So we will continue with our group league format but with a change,” he said.
It is learnt that unlike the last two years where five teams with most points qualified from group A and B, this year, top two teams from group A, B and C (eight-team groups) will qualify for quarter-finals.
The seventh quarter-finalist team will be the best third-placed team (in terms of points) from all three groups.
The eighth team will be the winner of a playoff game between champions of group D and group E. These groups consisting of small teams and North-East teams respectively.
The SOPs for Domestic Cricket resumption was released about a week ago to ensure proper training of Domestic players.