Published: May 18, 2017, 12:48 PM (IST)
Edited: May 18, 2017, 12:48 PM (IST)
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is likely to discuss discontinuation of the use of neutral venues for the Ranji Trophy games in the 2017-18 season during the annual domestic captain-coach conclave that will be held in Mumbai on May 23. The board had decided to go ahead with the experiment of playing Ranji Trophy games at neutral venues last year. However, as the season progressed, it became evident that most of the stakeholders were not too happy with the decision. The decision, in the first place, was taken despite lot of opposition from many state associations.
According to a report in the Indian Express, it is believed that the BCCI is now mulling reconsideration over it and return to the traditional home-away format. The decision of neutral venues was taken after as many as nine Ranji matches ended within two days and 17 were wrapped up within three in the 2015-16 season. With the teams exploiting ‘home’ advantage, BCCI came up with the idea of matches at the neutral venues to maintain the balance. The motive was to bring more accountability for curators while also giving them a free hand to produce pitches that are more “sporting” in nature. However, it did not quite turn out that way on the whole.
Many stakeholders have opposed the concept of neutral venues in past one year. Mumbai coach Chandrakant Pandit felt that rather than sending teams to faraway neutral venues, the BCCI could still make the old format better by introducing a few things like deducting points of the teams whose state associations prepared unplayable pitches. Then there were logistical issues as well, as on occasions teams travelled for 12 hours in buses and often played with hardly any gap between matches.
Saurashtra coach Sitanshu Kotak too was of the same opinion and said that there were other logistical issues too that teams had to deal with. “The state association where we played at did not take any interest. There were no net bowlers available. If we ask then we got the answer that the stadium is far and that’s why they can’t come. The food has also been an issue at the same time. Plus there is the case of getting players back into form, since there is no time to take them to the nets and work on their game,” Kotak was quoted as saying by the report.
Tamil Nadu captain Abhinav Mukund was also open in his criticism of the concept. He said he could mention more cons than pros of the neutral venue concept. He was also critical about the pitches, saying, “none actually gives a damn about the wickets that are being prepared. Everyone’s playing safe, which is why people are scoring more than 1000 runs, 1500 runs and I don’t see many spinners coming into play at all.”
