BCCI eyeing to start the domestic season from November 19: Report

The Board of Control for Cricket in India [BCCI] is trying to consider November 19 as a subsequent date for the commencement of the domestic season. Speaking to PTI, the senior BCCI official confirmed that the provisional schedule is already submitted for approval to the top BCCI office-bearers, including Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah.

"This is a tentative list that has been prepared and it has gone for approval of president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah," a senior BCCI official told PTI on condition of anonymity.

The Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament will kick-start India's domestic season. But few players, who will be plying their trade for different franchises in the IPL, are reported to miss the initial phase of the tournament due to the government's quarantine protocols. As per the norms, a player is supposed to quarantine for a period of 14 days before he joins his particular state team. 

"That's an issue primarily for the uncapped players, who would be with the squad and would like to play some cricket. Now even a player's team is knocked out before playoffs, he won't be back before November 3 and till November 17 will be in quarantine. For those whose teams are in play-offs and may reach finals, they will have to miss the first few rounds in that case. But again this is a draft proposal and there could be some tweaks in it," the official said. 

There were reports that India's most prominent domestic tournament, Ranji Trophy, could well go back to its initial phase with teams methodically clustered into zones. However, the official claimed that the board were not keen to go back to the zonal level structure as it hampers the uniformity of the competition. 

"The basic idea to stop the Zonal system was to ensure that there is uniformity in competition. So we will continue with our group league format but with a change," he said. 

Ranji Trophy Format  - Mechanism 

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• According to the tentative schedule, Ranji Trophy is scheduled to commence from 13 December. 
• The top two teams from Group A, B, C (eight-team groups) will directly qualify for the quarter-finals. 
• The seventh quarter-finalist team will be the best third-placed (in terms of run-rate ) from all three groups. 
• With the last quarterfinal spot at stake, the table-toppers of Group D and E will face off in a playoff game. 

[With inputs from PTI]