Ranji Trophy 2023-24: BCCI's poor scheduling ruins opening day as fog affects matches in north

India’s premier first-class competition, the Ranji Trophy 2024 got underway on Friday, January 05 as 16 matches began in different states of the country. However, the opening day of the tournament didn’t quite turn out to be good for the teams in the northern regions of the country as matches were marred by harsh weather conditions.

A significant reduction in the number of overs were witnessed in Delhi, Lahli (Rohtak), Jammu, and Chandigarh due to the poor visibility caused by fog and haze. The four places could only see 118 overs of play in total out of the scheduled 360 overs due to delays resulted by unfavourable conditions.

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Delhi could only bat for 19 overs against Puducherry and finished on 40/4 after the game started two hours late while Chandigarh were bowled out for 96 against Railways who finished the day, which saw total of 54.3 overs, on 73/0.

In the extreme north of the country, Jammu were bundled out for just 100 against Himachal Pradesh who finished the day on 47/0 after a total play of 44.3 overs. In Lahli, not even a single ball was delivered during the game between Haryana and Rajasthan. Having not got off to a good start in their campaign, all four teams must feel robbed of not being able to use their home conditions to their advantage early on in the season.

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Despite being aware of the foggy conditions in the north, the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) have bizarrely scheduled Ranji matches there when the tournament is struggling to stay relevant.

DDCA planning to reschedule their next home game

Meanwhile, the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) has been pondering to reschedule their next home match beginning on January 26 as it coincides with the Republic Day parade. Hence, all these factors highlight the poor scheduling of the tournament by the BCCI putting the affected teams at a massive disadvantage quite early in the tournament.