No sooner had the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announce the postponement of the 2021-22 Ranji Trophy matches than Jaydev Unadkat, captain of the defending champions, Saurashtra, put out a tweet saying: “Dear red ball, please give me one more chance.. I’ll make you proud, promise!”
Faiz Fazal, the captain of two-time Ranji Trophy winning side, Vidarbha, is sitting at home in Nagpur unsure of what is in store. “We players just want to be on the ground and want to play. We have forgotten how it feels,” Fazal told News18.compondering over when he would again wear the whites and take strike to the red ball in Ranji Trophy.
The sentiments of Unadkat and Fazal reflected those of the hundreds of Indian domestic cricketers, seniors and juniors alike, across the country who have been left in a lurch as to where the Ranji Trophy, the foremost first-class tournament in the country, is heading .
Also Read: ‘Kohli Knew Dravid Wasn’t Like Shastri; Give Rohit At Least a Year as Captain’
It has been 101 weeks since Fazal last played a first-class match, in the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy season. It has been 98 weeks since Unadkat’s Saurashtra lifted the Ranji Trophy for the first time ever. They have been defending champions for that long, perhaps the longest a team has maintained its reign over the glittering trophy without playing another game.
For, the 2020-21 Ranji Trophy was canceled due to Covid and the current season’s premier domestic championship is also kept on hold due to the prevailing pandemic situation. The Ranji Trophy for this season was originally scheduled from November 16, 2021 to February 19, 2022 but was rescheduled to Jan 5, 2022 and again to January 13, 2022 before keeping it on hold.
The talk among the cricketing circles is about having Ranji Trophy in two parts, the league phase before the IPL 2022 and the knock-outs after it. The BCCI is meeting on January 27 to decide on the Ranji Trophy’s fate.
One of the options for the 38 teams that figure in Ranji Trophy is to go back to the old zonal format. That is, teams from south zone playing amongst each other, teams from north zone playing amongst each other and likewise in the other three zones before the top two teams from each zone enter the knock-outs.
This is a possibility to avoid too much crisscrossing the country. In certain zones like the West, travel can be done between centers by road, thereby avoiding air travel. In other zones, like Central, where travel by road is not feasible as it involves traveling from Nagpur to Rajasthan to Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, include Delhi to play the Railways team, find a way out in having the matches in one center that has multiple venues suitable for first-class cricket.
It is very important to have the Ranji Trophy, said Pravin Amre, former India batsman and coach who has guided Mumbai to triumphs in this national championship. “It is so important to have the Ranji Trophy for the domestic players. Their livelihood depends on the Ranji Trophy. For them, Ranji Trophy match fees are really important. The BCCI should find a way out to have the Ranji Trophy. Even if it means a shorter version, that would be great. Having it in the zonal format could be one option.”
Also Read: ‘This Shastri 2.0 I Don’t Understand, He Doesn’t Make Very Intelligent Comments’
The 36-year-old Fazal added: “It is so important to have the Ranji Trophy. If domestic cricket doesn’t happen, it is so painful. We have no clue as to what is in store. There is so much confusion, should we train or not train. It is like studying hard and you are told that there are no exams. How long do you keep on studying? We are stuck in the middle of nowhere. Even for the senior players, these are very crucial years. Domestic cricket is the only source of income for us. We don’t work. We are struggling. Even if the BCCI pays compensation, it does not work. International players may be earning ₹15 lakh per Test match but a domestic cricketer plays the entire year to earn that much. And, not everyone is playing in the IPL. There are so many upcoming cricketers, so many children who are not sure if cricket is a career option and may back out. Honestly, we are missing the Ranji Trophy. It has been two years.”
Coach of the Karnataka team, Yere Goud, said that his players are keen to play. The Karnataka team, for example, was training until January 4, when the BCCI announcement of postponing Ranji Trophy came. They stopped training for almost three weeks and have now resumed gym sessions while they await the Board’s decision on January 27 as to when to start straining their skills.
Goud, the former Karnataka and Railways batsman, said: “We are keen to play Ranji Trophy in whatever format it be. Zonal-wise is fine. Even the present grouping is fine for us. We just want to play. The players just want to play. It has been nearly two years now.”
Goud was unsure how the BCCI would go about scheduling Ranji Trophy. “If the Board is planning zone wise, how does it make a difference in terms of the present bio-bubble situation? They also have to look at the venues. Some centers may have multiple venues, some may not. If it is held in zonal format, the groupings may change depending on the zones. Some zones may have five teams, some others may have seven teams. How will they go about it? The points will change. Some teams will play six other teams. Others may play only four. The number of days to conduct the group stage zone wise will vary. We are already short on time. The number of teams and points will also come into play,” Goud said.
The importance of Ranji Trophy is not only in the fact that it acts as a feeder system to the national team. It is also the tournament where Test players out of form regain their touch by scoring tons of runs, or bagging wickets, and get back into the groove in Tests again. Even if it is not about scoring runs and taking a bagful of wickets, the players find their rhythm and confidence back by playing in Ranji Trophy. Ask players of the past how they benefitted from playing in domestic cricket.
In the current circumstances where Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane are struggling for runs in Tests for an extended period, Ranji Trophy would have given them the platform to get back to some heavy run-scoring opportunities and getting into the rhythm of scoring big hundreds and carrying that into the Test arena again. But, that is not available now.
Fazal asked: “People should aim to play for India, but from where? If they want a replacement, where will they replace from? Will you watch white-ball performances or IPL to have replacements in Tests? How many are looking at performances in Ranji Trophy (until 2019-20)?”
The absence of Ranji Trophy for one season had its effects on India’s 1-2 Test series defeat in South Africa.
Former India left-arm spinner and national selector, Venkatapathy Raju, said: “The defeat in South Africa takes us back to the discussion of having to go back to the good old days. Ranji Trophy in zonal format was competitive. It was good. Aspiring youngsters did well in Ranji Trophy in the zonal structure, got selected for their zonal teams in the now-erstwhile Duleep Trophy, then for Rest of India in the Irani Cup. To play Test cricket, you have to be consistently performing in the Ranji Trophy.”
Raju agreed that in the current circumstances, the Indian team has been traveling a lot and staying in bio-bubble for a long time. “They hardly play in domestic cricket. They either take throw-downs or are playing among themselves to sharpen their skills,” the 52-year-old Raju, who took 93 Test wickets and 63 ODI sticks, said.
Playing intra-squad matches or taking throw-downs does not give the players the same feel as they get in competitive matches.
Former Test opening batsman Arun Lal called for the revival of Ranji Trophy. “Even if the teams release their players for IPL, you will be left with young talent in the knock-outs. You might unearth some really fresh talent,” said Lal, who played in 16 Test matches and was a domestic giant with the bat, amassing 10,000-plus runs and notching up 30 centuries.
Lal appealed to the BCCI to raise the profile of Ranji Trophy. “They must make it big, announce ₹10 crore prize money, allow foreign players in each team. The BCCI should really refurbish it. The BCCI has the money. It has the wherewithal. Make Ranji Trophy the premier tournament, make it huge and raise its profile so that people watch it on TV.”
The 66-year-old Lal wanted the BCCI to ensure that the international players played in the Ranji Trophy. “I would like to see Virat Kohli play in the Ranji Trophy,” he said.
Lal also raised the subject of the Indian batsmen, known to be kings of playing spin, struggling against the slow bowlers. Raju too echoed similar feelings about spin bowling.
“Also because of the pitches, the role of the spinners in domestic cricket is miniscule. You are taking out your main weapon, which is spin, out of the equation,” Lal said.
This was prominent in India’s ODI series defeat in South Africa, where the Indians not only gave regular spinners Keshav Maharaj and Tabrez Shamsi wickets but also gave part-timer Aiden Markram more respect, all the three going under six an over in the ODIs.
Raju added: “When things don’t go India’s way, they resort to turning tracks in India. But, in domestic tournaments, turners are not allowed, which is surprising. As a result, you struggle against spin in Test cricket. It is important to go back to the old days and take the home advantage.”
Raju stressed on the importance of going back to domestic cricket, getting enough match practice and coming back stronger and with confidence regained into the Indian team.
With the BCCI being the richest board in the world, and IPL is one tournament that every player in the world wants to be a part of, it has managed to get a separate window for the same. The BCCI can use its power to talk to the International Cricket Council and create windows in such a way that the various countries’ T20 leagues could be held in such a way that you have them simultaneously in one window and follow it with the ICC T20 World Cup. You could also have a separate window for the World Test Championship.
While these can be a separate topic for discussion, the immediate concern is to have Ranji Trophy and keep its importance alive.
Get all the IPL news and Cricket Score here