We are planning to hold Ranji Trophy in two phases: BCCI treasurer Dhumal

The
Ranji
Trophy
comprising
38-first-class
teams
was
scheduled
to
start
on
January
13
but
was
postponed
indefinitely
due
to
the
third
wave
of
COVID-19.

With
the
BCCI
planning
to
start
the
IPL
from
March
27,
it
is
practically
impossible
to
hold
the
tournament
in
one
go
but
after
requests
from
many
state
units,
the
brass
held
a
meeting
to
discuss
the
way
forward.

“We
are
exploring
the
possibility
of
staging
Ranji
Trophy,
cases
were
going
up
when
it
was
postponed,
now
they
seem
to
be
coming
down.
The
operations
team
is
working
on
whether
we
can
do
the
league
stage
next
month
and
complete
the
rest
of
the
tournament
later
(post
IPL),”
Dhumal
told
PTI
after
the
meeting.

The
meeting
was
also
attended
by
BCCI
president
Sourav
Ganguly
and
secretary
Jay
Shah.
As
of
now,
the
plan
is
to
hold
the
league
phase
for
a
month,
starting
in
February
till
March
and
then
have
the
next
phase
in
June-July,
when
the
monsoon
starts
in
a
lot
of
parts
of
India
with
peak
summer
in
some
other
parts.

“The
operations
team
will
work
out
the
logistics
and
factor
in
the
weather,
venue
availability
as
well
as
availability
of
players.
We
are
very
keen
to
organise
the
tournament
and
that
is
why
we
are
exploring
all
possibilities
to
stage
it
without
compromising
players’ safety,”
Dhumal
added.

The
pandemic
played
spoilsport
last
season
as
the
BCCI
only
had
the
two
men’s
white
ball
tourneys
(Vijay
Hazare
Trophy
and
Syed
Mushtaq
Ali
Trophy).

The
BCCI
paid
50
percent
of
the
earlier
match
fees
as
compensation
to
all
first-class
cricketers
who
have
endured
financial
losses.
If
it
is
not
held
this
year,
it
will
severely
affect
the
BCCI’s
pathways
cricket
like
India
A
team,
which
is
primarily
selected
on
the
basis
of
Rani
Trophy
performance.