Duleep Trophy has been restored following Sourav Ganguly's letter

After a lot of controversies, the Duleep Trophy has been finally been added to the Indian domestic calendar. Earlier, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) published the schedule of the upcoming domestic season which was devoid of the Duleep Trophy. This fact annoyed former Indian skipper and chairman of the Technical Committee, Sourav Ganguly.

Following his objection, the Committee of Administrators (CoA) has decided to restore the tournament. The BCCI’s technical committee met last month in Kolkata, where it was finalised that the board will continue experimenting with the pink ball format of the tournament that was started last year. However, the BCCI decided to scrap the tournament and Ganguly was kept in the dark.

Frustrated, he wrote to the BCCI general manager MV Sridhar, asking about the fate of the tournament and why he was not informed. “I am reading in the media that Duleep Trophy has not or may not take place this season. I don’t know that’s true or not but if you remember, the members of the technical committee had agreed to use pink balls again for the Duleep matches and the tournament was supposed to be held in the same format as last year,” Dada wrote in the e-mail.

Ganguly also wanted the tournament to be staged in the southern part of the country. “Initially, there were suggestions that the matches be held in Mohali or Dharamsala but inclement weather might play spoilsport. That’s why Sourav suggested any city in southern India. The proposal is being carefully considered,” said a BCCI official.

Following the 45-year-old’s letter, CoA swung in action. “The Duleep Trophy has been restored. It will be held and logistics will be worked out. We have told BCCI not to scrap it. It should be there. It is a very prestigious tournament and it should be held. It will be held this season,” said CoA member Diana Edulji while attending the media conference.

BCCI’s defence

While CoA has acted upon Ganguly’s wish, BCCI validated their cause for scrapping the tournament. In their defence, they said that due to the tight schedule, all the top players will be engaged, and those who will be available to play in the competition are not likely to get a call in the national team.

“The top Indian players will be gearing up for the Australia limited overs series and the second rung will be preparing for the New Zealand A series. You won’t have the top 30-32 players playing. The players available will be the next 30, who will not remotely be in contention for national call- up,” said a BCCI official.