The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is reportedly planning to make some changes to India's domestic cricket calendar for the upcoming 2021-22 season.
It is being said that the BCCI is thinking of rescheduling the dates for the Ranji Trophy and the Vijay Hazare Trophy after multiple requests from state associations for better preparations for the red-ball cricket in the upcoming season.
The BCCI had last month announced the schedule for this season comprising of a total of 2127 domestic games across various age groups in the men's & women's category.
As per the preliminary schedule, the Ranji Trophy was slated to be played between November 16 and February 19 while the Vijay Hazare Trophy will be starting from February 23, 2022.
But as per the new proposal, the Vijay Hazare Trophy can be now advanced to November after the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with Ranji Trophy begin after the end of the white-ball tournaments.
The source told Sportstar on Thursday: “The Mushtaq Ali Trophy gets over on November 12 and the Ranji Trophy is scheduled to start four days later. So, some state associations had requested the board to look into the matter as it would be difficult to switch to red-ball cricket immediately. The teams need some preparation before playing the longer format.”
While the Board has decided that the CK Nayudu Trophy will be a U-25 event this season, discussions are on whether to conduct the U-16 tournaments given the pandemic in the country. Given that the vaccination is still not allowed for the under-18 age group, a section in the Board feels that holding the U-16 tournament could be risky.
