Recommendations aimed at boosting the image of domestic cricket and encouraging teams to go for the victory formed the essence of the Board’s Technical Committee meeting in Kolkata on April 7.
The Technical Committee, headed by Anil Kumble, comprises, among others, former internationals Sandeep Patil, Debasis Mohanty, Gopal Sharma, Sudhakar Rao, Pandurang Salgaonkar and noted umpire V. K. Ramaswamy.
The 10-member Committee, with Board secretary Anurag Thakur as the convenor, discussed some important suggestions made at the Ranji Trophy captains and coaches’ conclave held here last month. The focus had been on exploring greater opportunities of winning a match and awarding financial incentives to teams who pressed for the victory.
The Technical Committee was keen that teams went for outright victories and not sit on the first-innings lead. The members felt that winning was a habit and this trait had to be developed early and at home for the team to excel in challenging conditions overseas.
The committee was looking to make the captains accept the significance of an outright win. To achieve that the members felt the need to develop a method to get more and more results in the knockout stage. It was observed that financial incentives would encourage the captains to press for the victory. The Ranji Trophy team that won the title stood to be rewarded handsomely for the number of outright victories it recorded in its campaign.
Umpiring standardsAlarmed at the falling standards of umpiring in recent times, a point stressed by captains and coaches, a suggestion was made to draw up a list of umpires based on their quality of decision making. The captains and coaches had felt that evaluation be made on the basis of how many decisions the umpire got them right. The system of accumulating reports on the performances of umpires demanded a change too.
As far as pitches were concerned, reports from the captains and the match referees would be given greater importance with data stored on the behaviour and preparation of the playing surface.
The committee also felt the one-day tournaments be staged at the beginning of the season. All the matches may be played in the same zone to cut down on travelling time. A break in the Ranji Trophy during December-January, when matches in the North are affected by inclement weather, could be introduced next season.
The diminishing significance of the Duleep Trophy and Deodhar Trophy was also noted following concerns from some captains and coaches on the increasing lack of enthusiasm among players to participate in these zonal competitions.
A welcome suggestion made at the meeting was increasing the numbers of overs per day to 95 instead of the existing 90. It can be achieved by starting the matches 15 minutes earlier. At the end of four days, the teams gain 20 overs, nearly a session of cricket.
