Question mark over Ranji Trophy scheduling after inclement climate delays video games at a number of venues

Inclement climate within the northern and north-eastern elements of India continues to adversely have an effect on proceedings of the Ranji Trophy at a time the nation’s premier red-ball home event is already struggling for relevance.

The recreation between Tripura and Tamil Nadu on the Maharaja Bir Bikram Stadium was the worst hit. Dense fog earlier within the day, coupled with a slight drizzle and intensely overcast circumstances, pressured the match referee and umpires to name off the day at 3:15 p.m.

The state of affairs was hardly higher in different areas like Jammu, Guwahati, Mohali, and Kanpur. At JKCA’s Hostel Ground, solely six balls may very well be bowled within the Delhi vs J&Okay recreation on Friday. In Assam, solely 37 overs may very well be squeezed in in the course of the match between the house aspect and Kerala earlier than dangerous mild pressured the gamers off the sector. During Punjab vs Railways on the PCA Ground, the customer may solely bat for 34 overs earlier than the stumps have been drawn early owing to dangerous mild. Kanpur noticed a delayed begin within the Uttar Pradesh-Bengal match as nicely.

Even within the week passed by, groups had ended up shedding valuable recreation time to the climate in Delhi, Haryana, Jammu, and Tripura.

Follow | Ranji Trophy Round 2 Highlights

These hold-ups beg the query whether or not the schedule of the Ranji Trophy may have been deliberate in a greater method by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, holding the cruel winters in thoughts.

Devajit Saikia, joint secretary of the BCCI, tells Sportstar this can be very troublesome to foretell these unlucky eventualities. “There are around 2,200 matches that we conduct each year. It is very difficult to foresee the weather in a particular region almost a year in advance. If you look at Assam itself, only in the last two days have we felt the bite of the winter season. Before that it felt like any other month of the year.”

He went on to purpose that it’s not simply the home matches that get affected. The climate may have an effect on the worldwide calendar as nicely. “Take yesterday, for example. In India’s game against Afghanistan, you saw how cold and challenging it was. The climate is also changing. At one place or another, this is bound to happen. It isn’t possible to successfully conduct so many tournaments in such a large country without the weather coming into play. Earlier, we did not have too many formats and tournaments for men and women.”

Jayanta Dey, joint secretary of the Tripura Cricket Association, says, “It (the scheduling) is done entirely by Cricketing Operations. We have no involvement. It isn’t that they aren’t aware of the conditions, so we have never appealed. This is nothing new. Conditions like these have been prevalent for years now. It had been foggy like this last year as well. Many matches couldn’t start on time.”

Also learn | Sportstar Aces 2024, Popular Choice Awards: Saurashtra nominated for ‘Club/State Team of the Year‘

Meanwhile, an official from the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association, who doesn’t want to be named, says, “Scheduling has always been a problem. We have raised this issue so many times. But it has continued to happen. What can be done now? When you lose out on precious hours and days like this, how are the teams benefiting? Whenever we have taken this up with the concerned authorities, they have responded with ‘It’s out now; what can be done?’”

Saikia, nonetheless, says that the BCCI has all the time left the scope for associations to revert again with issues with the schedule, in the event that they ever have any. “The states are notified of the schedule well in advance. They can send feedback if they have issues with the scheduling.”