BCCI and Sourav Ganguly planning to resume domestic cricket from January 1

Sourav Ganguly, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president, said that the board is planning to resume domestic cricket in the country around January 1, 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic has made sure that no domestic tournament can be hosted in India in 2020 due to the rising number of cases over the last few months.

However, Ganguly and the world’s richest cricket board want to start the upcoming year with a positive frame of mind. Sourav, also a former Indian skipper, hinted that January-March might be zeroed in on as a window for the upcoming edition of the Ranji Trophy.

Sourav Ganguly opines

“We have had extensive discussions on domestic cricket and we have tentatively decided to start the competitions from January 1, 2021,” Ganguly was quoted as saying in TOI.

“We will certainly have the full-fledged Ranji Trophy red-ball tournament. It will probably not be possible to hold all tournaments,” he stated.

However, in order to minimise the hassles of travel in the pandemic, the matches are likely to be held in four different centres. Puducherry has been thought about as one of the venues to host most games. The BCCI is also looking at Bangalore and Dharamsala as two other venues for the tournament.

“Puducherry has six grounds and has offered to host. It can host the Plate Group games while the other Groups can play in three different centres. The main motive is to minimise travel for players.

“Bangalore also has a lot of grounds so it can be one option and another option can be Dharamsala which has Bilaspur and Nadaun in its proximity,” a BCCI official mentioned.

In the meantime, Ganguly also talked about the return of women’s cricket and other age-group cricket between March and April.

“We also have elaborate plans for our age group and women’s cricket. We will start with the Ranji Trophy and then we will also have the other tournaments between March and April,” Ganguly said.

The Indian cricketers returned to the field after seven months with the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The women’s cricketers will also be resuming action with the Women’s T20 Challenge in November.