The Board of Cricket Control In India (BCCI) is reluctant in hosting any domestic tournament due to the subsequent rise in COVID19 cases in India. This coming on the back of the Indian Premier League being postponed and then moved out of India for safety purposes. After the bank of rising cases made India the second-highest most affected country in India, the BCCI finds are finding it difficult to host any domestic competition in India this year.
According to reports, the BCCI hasn’t made any decision on the cancellation of the domestic competitions but an announcement is likely to come very soon. A couple of weeks back Sourav Ganguly had said that we might just have a trimmed domestic season but by all means, it looks unlikely to happen with the challenges the BCCI are up against.
BCCI unlikely to host domestic season
A source from the BCCI was recently said to TOI that with the rising cases in India, there are several difficulties for them to plan and host the upcoming season.
“In certain states, it’s bad. In other states, it’s worse. The numbers are unrelenting. In such a scenario, how does one plan anything over a period of three or four months, when you’re not sure what’s in store tomorrow,” A source told Times of India.
Moreover, even if they plan on conducting the domestic competitions like Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy etc. It would extremely for them to create a biosecure bubble for over 1000 players featuring in the competitions. Such preparations would be a costly affair and won’t be feasible for the BCCI at the same time.
“First, the state government permissions would be required. Then the city-specific municipalities will need to give a go-ahead. And even if that happens, preparing a bio-secure bubble for 37 Ranji teams, five Duleep Trophy teams, and the several other domestic teams would be next to impossible. Travel and accommodation will be another concern. It’s not feasible,” he added.
