Published: May 30, 2016, 12:58 PM (IST)
Edited: May 31, 2016, 05:13 PM (IST)
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Technical Committee took an important step on Sunday as it recommended to hold the 2016-17 Duleep Trophy under lights. The tournament which couldn’t take place last season due to a busy calendar has been scheduled to take place ahead of India’s home season. Meanwhile, the committee also advised the selectors to pick 4 teams to participate and compete with one another. And more importantly, with India expected to host a day-night Test this year, some players from the Test squad are likely to feature in it, to get used to the pink ball. ALSO READ: Harbhajan Singh eager to play cricket with pink ball
Another suggestion that was given was to hold stage the Ranji Trophy matches at neutral venues so as to negate home advantage since many issues related altering of pitches had come up in recent times. A media release from the BCCI said – “In a bid to make domestic cricket more competitive and rule out the issues related to preparing specific wickets for home teams, as well as to expose players to play in different conditions, the BCCI Technical Committee recommended neutral venues for the Ranji Trophy matches. This is a step recommended to make domestic Ranji Trophy cricket more competitive,” stated a media release from the Indian cricket board.” ALSO READ: BCCI holds meeting with Technical Committee and NCA
The media release further stated – “The committee also discussed the format for Duleep Trophy for the season 2016-17. It was recommended that selectors would pick four teams to participate in a round-robin format tournament. The entire tournament will be a day/night affair,”.
The technical committee also gave a go-ahead to the India ‘A’ team’s tour of Australia in August and said the ‘A’ side will be playing two four-day matches and will also participate in a tri-series.
The recommendations will be discussed during BCCI’s working committee meeting.
