In order to keep domestic cricket in a good shape, the BCCI recently issued a directive to the contracted players to take part in Ranji Trophy and other domestic tournaments when not on national duty.
Now, the BCCI has taken another major step for the betterment of domestic cricket. According to a TOI report, the board has formed a three-member committee, including head coach Rahul Dravid, chief selector Ajit Agarkar and NCA head VVS Laxman, to seek suggestions to improve and boost domestic cricket setup.
The decision was taken on Monday (Mar 18) at BCCI's Apex Council meeting, where concerns were raised about the challenges domestic cricket was facing in the country.
"There were a lot of issues that cropped up during the conduct of men’s domestic cricket, with a prominent problem being that a lot of games in north India, particularly during the Ranji Trophy, were washed out or heavily curtailed due to bad weather in December-January," a source was quoted as saying by TOI.
"Dravid, Laxman and Agarkar have been asked to give their suggestions to improve men’s domestic cricket," it added.
Last month, Indian batters Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan paid the price for ignoring BCCI’s instruction to play domestic cricket as they were left out of central contracts.
In the wake of the recent development, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar praised the Indian board. He also lauded BCCI for announcing the incentive scheme for players playing 75 per cent of India's Tests both home and away, saying that a similar incentive scheme should be launched for domestic cricket as well.
“That is a wonderful thing by the BCCI to reward those who would be playing but I would also request the BCCI to ensure that the feeder to the Test team, which is the Ranji Trophy, that is also looked after," said Gavaskar.
“(If) the Ranji Trophy fees can be doubled or tripled, certainly there’ll be a lot more people playing the Ranji Trophy, (and a) lot less pull outs from the Ranji Trophy, because if the fees of playing a Ranji Trophy match is a good fee there will be less people pulling out for various reasons," he added.
