Mumbai: BCCI Secretary Jay Shah announced during the same period that “Domestic Cricket Calendar 2024-25 season,” which also said there will be no toss in the CK Nayudu Trophy (men’s U23) matches for the 2024-25 season and as such, the visiting team will have a choice of either batting first or bowling first.
“We are not going to use flipping coins in CK Nayudu Trophy games. Instead, we shall allow the visiting team to choose whether they should bat or bowl first,” Shah stated while outlining the key aspects of domestic cricket calendar for 2024-25 season.
However, it seems that by doing this, they are trying to put an end to instances where host teams mess up pitches (mostly spin tracks) and win Under-23 tournaments which fall just below Ranji Trophy hence very critical in domestic set-up.
Today was another first time when BCCI removed tossing from domestic cricket, an essential part of any game. Similarly, English Cricket Board abandoned the toss up in County Championship games for four seasons from 2016 – 2019 before reintroducing it starting with the 2020 campaign for this reason.
Still on CK Nayudu Trophy another new step announced by Shah was that “we will introduce a new points system aimed at incentivizing good performance.” It includes bonus points for batting/bowling records registered in innings one; as well as taking out six points per match won plus initial innings’ lead. This kind of system is common practice in English County Championship where sides get points for each wicket taken and run scored.
BCCI will adopt it next year if it proves successful. “We shall conduct an evaluation at end season evaluating how effective these point systems have been and determine whether it is worth implementing them again next year,” said Jay Shah, BCCI Secretary.
The recommendations were made by a four-member committee formed specifically to overhaul domestic cricket, including India head coach Rahul Dravid, National Team Cricket Academy chairman VVS Laxman chief selector Ajit Agarkar and BCCI general manager cricket operations Abey Kuruvilla. Shah has now forwarded these proposals to the Supreme Council for approval.
Ranji Trophy has two phases
Also, another important decision made by BCCI is that Ranji Trophy will be played in two phases – the first five matches of the tournament being played after Duleep Trophy which kicks off domestic season’s curtain raiser followed closely by Irani Cup. The final two league games and knockout rounds of Ranji are played post domestic season.
Although there were no dates provided by the BCCI for the championship, the start of Ranji can be brought forward to October as many teams complained about North and East division matches being affected by bad weather in January when Ranji began last season. “We have taken careful consideration in arranging matches to minimize the impact of weather disruptions,” Shah said.
Selection of Duleep Trophy Teams
The domestic season of 2024-25 is expected to start with Duleep Trophy, which will have four teams chosen by the national selectors. It looks like BCCI has abandoned the Duleep Trophy divisional system after they re-introduced it some seasons ago.
Games will all be played further apart
As Shardul Thakur, an Indian bowling all-rounder recommended in March, the BCCI has decided to extend the intervals between Ranji Trophy matches from three days that are at present.
“To give players enough time to recover and perform optimally for the entire season,” Shah stated.
In March, Thakur suggested more than three days as a break between Ranji Trophy matches to avoid injuries on players. “It’s difficult because we’re playing a first-class game and there’s a three-day gap in between, which I don’t think has ever happened. If the kids keep playing like this for another two seasons, there’s going to be a lot of injuries all over the country,” he said warned.
On women’s cricket, Shah revealed that BCCI had resolved that all women inter-district tournaments including one-dayers T20’s and multi-day will be selected by national selectors only.
