Ranji Trophy 2022 in Two Stages? This is the plan BCCI is Formulating

The Ranji Trophy has been impacted heavily by the coronavirus pandemic ever since it broke out in 2020. Saurashtra have held the Ranji Trophy after beating Bengal in the final in 2020. But, since then, there has been no Ranji Trophy. In 2021, the Ranji Trophy was canceled due to the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. This had resulted in players not getting paid. In the last couple of days, Saurashtra’s Jaydev Unadkat and Vidarbha’s Faiz Fazal have passionately appealed to the BCCI to start the tournament.

However, in a new development, the BCCI is apparently planning to host the Ranji Trophy 2022 in two stages. The league stages are apparently going to be played from February to March. The tournament will then take a break due to the IPL and then the playoffs will be played from June. With the cancellation of the Ranji Trophy in 2021, only two tournaments could be organised. The Vijay Hazare one-day tournament and the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 event was held. While Tamil Nadu won the Syed Mushtaq Ali, Himachal Pradesh created history by winning the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

With the First Class players not being paid their match fees in 2021, the BCCI paid 50 percent of the earlier match fee as compensation. This was to all the cricketers who endured financial losses due to the cancellation last year.

Read – Amazing! Sachin Tendulkar Has Suffered Only One Loss in his entire Ranji Trophy

Ranji Trophy Plan outlined by Jay Shah and BCCI

Speaking about the new development, BCCI secretary Jay Shah said the venues and the logistics are being worked upon.

“The Board has decided to conduct the Ranji Trophy this season in two phases. In the first phase, we plan to complete all matches of the league stage. The knockouts will be held in June. My team is working closely to mitigate any kind of health risk caused by the pandemic. At the same time ensuring a highly competitive red-ball cricket contest. Ranji Trophy is our most prestigious domestic competition. It has been providing Indian Cricket with an enviable talent pool every year. It is absolutely important that we take all necessary steps to safeguard the interest of this premier event,” Jay Shah stated.

According to a report in the Indian Express, the state associations had applied a lot of pressure on the BCCI to ensure that the Ranji Trophy is played this year. Ravi Shastri, the former head coach of the Indian cricket team, stated that India cricket will be ‘spineless’ if they do not hold the Ranji Trophy in 2022.

“The Ranji Trophy is the backbone of Indian cricket. The moment you start ignoring it our cricket will be SPINELESS,” Ravi Shastri tweeted. BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal also spoke about the logistical issues which they will tackle. “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 stated.