The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) reached out to its affiliated units on Thursday (28 January) to take their suggestions, much in line with how they zeroed in on the season to decide on the second domestic competition of the season. Earlier Syed Mushtaq Ali was hosting the Trophy.
Several state associations have confirmed to Cricbuzz that they had received a call from Jai Shah, board secretary, to choose between the Ranji Trophy and the Vijay Hazare Trophy as their preferred option. The BCCI wants to finalize the details of the competition it is going to host by the end of January.
“We have received a call and we will inform the BCCI by tomorrow (Friday),” an official of the Jharkhand State Cricket Association said. The response from the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) was more direct and immediate – Vijay Hazare. The majority of the state units believe that Vijay Hazare should be given away so that it becomes difficult to pull the Ranji Trophy in a limited time. But the Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) has told the BCCI that all efforts to conduct the Ranji Trophy should be explored. “We are playing a white ball tournament (Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy),” an ACA official said.
The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) likes the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Even attempts were made to know the opinion of the National Selection Committee and Chairman Chetan Sharma, who is understood to have recently sought the views of his colleagues.
With the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting in April, only a two-month window is available for the BCCI to organize domestic tournaments and the board would like to participate in a few more events but urged chairman Saurav Ganguly to host Ranji Trophy
The Secretary’s calls follow a January 17 Supreme Council decision that authorized officials to call in order to proceed to domestic tournaments. With Ganguly’s convoy in the hospital, Shah took the initiative to build a consensus.
