BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has said that the board is trying to start the premier domestic cricket tournament, the Ranji Trophy 2022 by February 13 this year, despite the ongoing third wave of the COVID-19 virus in the country.
He also stated that the Ranji Trophy will continue to have six groups of six teams each for the group phase. The Ranji Trophy was initially scheduled to begin on January 13, but the ongoing COVID pandemic put a spanner in those plans.
Not only the Ranji Trophy, but BCCI had to postpone several other tournaments such as Col. CK Nayudu Trophy, the Women’s Challenger Trophy, and the knockouts of the Cooch Behar Trophy.
Sourav Ganguly told Sportstar: “We want to start the Ranji Trophy by mid-February, by the 13th. As of now, we are looking at a normal Ranji Trophy format, where we will have six groups, six teams in each group, and five matches. That will take us one month to finish the first phase, just before the IPL.”
“So far, the format remains the same, unless COVID-19 interferes again. But we will look at the venues. We will also look at the number of COVID-19 cases in those venues. At this moment, centers like Bengaluru and Kerala have a lot of COVID-19 cases. We will discuss everything and can get a clear picture by tomorrow or Monday,” he added.
BCCI secretary Jay Shah clears air over the fate of Ranji Trophy 2021-22
The tournament was scheduled to be earlier held in six centers – Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram, and Chennai. Kolkata was scheduled to host the knockouts.
The BCCI is also bracing to host the knockout matches during the peak monsoon season in India in June-July. “We might (have to take the knockouts) to Bengaluru at that time. Let’s see, but we will be able to give a clear picture in the next three or four days,” Ganguly said.
The BCCI secretary Jay Shah had earlier written to the state units, thanking them for their support. In his letter, the secretary said the Board “is working closely to mitigate any kind of health risk caused by the pandemic, while at the same time ensuring a highly competitive red-ball cricket contest.”
(Sportstar inputs)
