The BCCI has done a good job in organizing IPL2020 in the UAE. The next focus for the BCCI will be India’s tour of Australia starting in November 2020. However, the BCCI is also focused on getting India’s domestic season up and running at the earliest after suspending the entire season in 2020.
Apex Council Decides To Resume On Jan 1
The BCCI Apex Council met on October 17 and discussed a number of important issues including when the domestic season should resume. BCCI President Sourav Ganguly confirmed that the council has agreed for domestic cricket to commence in India from Jan 1, 2021. The council also held detailed discussions about the future of women’s cricket and junior cricket in the coming year.
The big concern for the BCCI is how to get the full schedule of domestic cricket in with COVID-19 still under control. The BCCI is looking to limit the amount of travel during the domestic season and is likely to use four bases spread across the country. The BCCI will look to get the main domestic tournaments completed but admitted that it will be difficult to get the full schedule of domestic tournaments completed due to COVID-19 concerns.
Ranji Trophy To Run From Jan to March
When it comes to domestic cricket tournaments, the Ranji Trophy commands a lot of respect. The BCCI is looking to get the Ranji Trophy over and done with at the start of the season. As of now, the Ranji Trophy is scheduled to run from Jan to March 2021.
The BCCI plans to use four locations for the tournament and each location will stage one of the four groups. The four groups will be divided into A, B, C and Plate – which Puducherry set to host all games for Plate as there are 6 grounds available to stage matches.
The BCCI is currently looking at Bangalore and Dharamsala as two potential centers to host Ranji trophy games. The BCCI is expected to finalize the centers in the coming weeks to give the respective state associations time to prepare the venues.
The BCCI has also confirmed that it will stage a few other domestic tournaments between March and April. The two tournaments that are likely to take place during this time are the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (T20) and the Vijay Hazare Trophy (ODI tournament). While the BCCI has confirmed that it will look to push women’s cricket and junior cricket in early 2021, no official details have been released as of now.
The BCCI will wait till the end of November or early December to monitor the COVID-19 situation in India before finalizing an official schedule for 2021. As of now, most state associations with the exception of Uttarakhand are yet to resume full training and net sessions for players.
BCCI Confirms India-Australia Tour Schedule
The BCCI confirmed that it has received a schedule from Cricket Australia regarding the upcoming tour. Indian players will leave to Australia as soon as the 2020 IPL is finished and will be subjected to a quarantine phase.
India are set to play a 4 match test series, 3 ODIs and 3 T20 games during their tour of Australia. The first test will be a day-night test that will take place in Adelaide, South Australia. Cricket Australia is yet to finalize the dates for the series. The tour of Australia will finish in the third week of January 2021.
Once the India team gets back, they will go through a quarantine process and then get ready to take on England at home. Ganguly said that as of now India will host England but if the COVID-19 situation is still a problem, the series will be shifted to the UAE.
