The Cricket Association of Uttarakhand has sent a letter to the BCCI concerning the participation of Uttarakhand in the forthcoming season of Ranji Trophy.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) has declared that Uttarakhand will have a Ranji side in the next season. However, the BCCI is against the inclusion of Uttarakhand in the esteemed domestic tournament.  

As per a report published in Sportskeeda, The Cricket Association of Uttarakhand shot out a letter to the CoA and BCCI on Saturday (June 23).

“The letter was sent after the AGM decided to put a hold on the decision for Uttarakhand to field a team in the Ranji Trophy,” an official of the Cricket Association of Uttarakhand told Sportskeeda.

Let’s take a look what the Cricket Association of Uttarakhand have written in the mail:

At the very outset, the undersigned wants to express gratitude for your initiative and team effort for granting affiliation to Uttarakhand and bringing all associations together on one platform.

Sir, today in the morning it was disheartening to know that meet is against the participation of Uttarakhand in Ranji Trophy. Sir, I would like to highlight the undermentioned details, with an objective to press the claim of Uttarakhand's participation in Ranji Trophy in the current year.

1. Out of the 13 districts in Uttarakhand there are two main districts Dehradun & Nainital which are a hub of cricketing activities in the state like any other state.

The Leagues are conducted in these districts which has the participation of players from all 13 districts since more than five decades.

2. The All India Tournament in these places are conducted yearly which witnesses the participation of approximately more than 80 Ranji Trophy Players each year.

Two Teams of Uttarakhand based on the performance of District League participate in the same tournament and performance of the players is really creditable.

Sir, players like MS Dhoni, Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Gyanendra Pandey, Amit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Virendra Sehwag, Noel David, David Johnson, Saurabh Tiwari, Rishabh Pant, Sarandeep Singh, Vikram Rathore, MSK Prasad, Vijay Yadav etc have all played here. Uttarakhand has developed players over the years based on the intensive cricket which takes place in the state.

 3. In the past, players of the state had no option but to move out of the state to play age level and Ranji Trophy from other states that were affiliated to BCCI namely Rishabh Pant, Pawan Suyal, Saurabh Rawat, Kunal Chandela (Delhi Ranji Trophy), Abhimanyu Easwaran (India A & West Bengal Ranji team), Priyanshu Khanduri (Himachal), Aryan Sharma (UP U-19 Captian), Anuj Rawat, present U-19 India captain (Four Day Side), Aryan Juyal (Present U-19 India Captain one day side), Kamlesh Nagarkoti (U-19 India world cup), Arya Sethi (U-19 UP). Besides women players Ekta Bist, Mansi Joshi, Sneha Rana etc from Uttarakhand have also represented India.

4. Uttarakhand boasts of three international stature grounds of which two are situated in Dehradun and one is situated in Haldwani besides many grounds which can host domestic matches.

5. In the past Uttarakhand has hosted Rani Jhansi Trophy in the year 1975, in which it would be pertinent to point out Madam Diana Edulji, who is now a part of COA, also participated. Uttarakhand also hosted in the year 2007 match between Railways Women's Team & UP Women's Team which is played in 2 days & 1-day format with the rest day in between. The Railways Women Team consisted of more than 8 India current Players including captain Mithali Raj. Uttarakhand also hosted CK Nayudu, Vijay Merchant Trophy, and Central Zone Women's U-19 tournament successfully in the past besides Red Bull World Campus Cricket championship in which eight nations participated.

Sir, the objective of highlighting the above details is just to bring to your knowledge that Uttarakhand has adequate facilities and enough talent to participate in the Ranji Trophy Championship.

The AGM participants of BCCI in our opinion were probably not aware of what has been reiterated in this mail.

Sir, players of this state have already suffered immensely for want of affiliation during the last 18 years owing to various reasons which you are well aware of.

Sir, your intervention to enable Uttarakhand to play at all levels including Ranji Trophy would be highly appreciated.

(With inputs from Sportskeeda)