‘The priority is to have the IPL first’- Wasim Jaffer on how BCCI should plan India’s domestic season

Wasim Jaffer, the former Indian cricketer, has put forth a roadmap for how the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should plan the return of domestic cricket after the coronavirus pandemic. The IPL is a massive money-spinner and the board stands to lose around Rs 4,000 crores if the tournament ends up getting cancelled. Jaffer didn’t hesitate to put the IPL on top.

The IPL was scheduled to start on March 29, but it had to be postponed for an indefinite time period. Jaffer, who retired from all forms of cricket earlier this year, said that that the Irani Trophy should follow the T20 league. As per Jaffer, Saurashtra, who beat Bengal to win the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy, deserves to play in the Irani Cup.

Players should get adequate break: Wasim Jaffer

“As and when the season commences, whenever cricket starts, the priority is to have the IPL first. The BCCI can look to start with the IPL as the first tournament,” Jaffer was quoted as saying on India Today. “Once the IPL finishes, the BCCI can look to start the domestic season with the Irani Trophy (Cup) as Saurashtra deserves to play it as they are first-time champions,” he stated.

Moreover, he wants the Duleep Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Deodhar Trophy to be scrapped to give the players adequate breaks.

“Then we can start the Ranji Trophy. And before the (IPL) auction, as and when BCCI keeps the auction for next year’s IPL, we should have the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy and scrap the Vijay Hazare, Duleep Trophy and Deodhar Trophy and use that period to hold these major two tournaments with the adequate breaks for players,” Jaffer added.

He also has suggested for the roads to the Ranji quarter-finals to get tougher. In the previous addition of the first-class tournament, fives teams from Combined A and B groups went to the quarters. Two teams from Group C and one from Plate Group also made the top eight.

Jaffer ended his career with nearly 20,000 runs in first-class cricket. He also churned out 57 centuries and 91 half-centuries. He also scored double centuries after turning 40.