The BCCI's Technical Committee with former India captain Sourav Ganguly as its Chairman is opposed to the Ranji Trophy matches being played at neutral venues from the 2012-13 season.
At the committee's first meeting here on Friday, Ganguly and four former Test players in Chetan Chauhan, Roger Binny, K. Srikkanth and Venkatapathy Raju and three former first-class cricketers in Shantanu Sugwekar, Rahul Sapru and Arup Bhattacharjee expressed their reservations and recommended that the premier tournament be played in the home-and-away format.
Last Monday the BCCI announced after its Working Committee meeting in Chennai that the Ranji Trophy would be played at neutral venues. “I feel the home-and-away system should be persisted with, but at the end of the day the BCCI decides,” said Ganguly. The BCCI may have to review its decision now.
Ban on Karnail Singh Stadium
While the Technical Committee has recommended ways to improve the domestic tournaments and also to use floodlights for Test matches, the Senior Tournament Committee (STC) has recommended that the Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) be barred from staging BCCI matches at the Karnail Singh Stadium, New Delhi in the 2012-13 season and that the RSPB name an alternative venue.
The STC met here specifically to consider adverse reports from match referees with regard to poor pitch conditions in the Ranji matches between Maharashtra and Hyderabad (Plate league at Uppal) and Railways and Saurashtra (Elite league at the Karnail Singh Stadium).
The Hyderabad Cricket Association was let off with a warning.
The meeting was attended by Sanjay Jagdale (Secretary, BCCI), Prof. Ratnakar Shetty (CAO, BCCI) and Suru Nayak (Manager, Cricket Operations, BCCI).
Srikkanth attended the meeting as Chairman of the senior national selection committee, Binny (as former Test cricketer), Chauhan, Raju, Sapru, Sugwekar and Bhattacharjee (as representatives of their zones). Umpire V.K. Ramaswamy was absent.
The committee's recommendations have to be ratified by the BCCI's Working Committee. The technical committee, meanwhile, rejected a proposal from the Pitch and Grounds committee that junior tournaments be played on uncovered pitches as it would not be possible to play an uninterrupted match during winter in North, East and some parts of Western India.
Panel recommendations
1. Two short-pitched deliveries be permitted per over in domestic one-day tournaments and that the rule be introduced from the inter-State one-day matches scheduled to start on February 20.
2. The present Ranji Trophy Elite and Plate format be continued.
3. The Ranji Trophy quarterfinals and semifinals be played over five days.
4. The Ranji Trophy points system — outright win 5 points; first innings lead 3 points; Loss on first innings 1 point; washout or weather interference with no first innings result 1 point each; innings win or win by 10 wickets 1 bonus point; tie on first innings without outright result 1 point each; tie on both innings 2 points each; outright loss nil point; first innings result not achieved without any weather interference 1 point each.
5. If a domestic match is played on a wicket that is ‘underprepared' in the opinion of the match officials, then two points to be deducted from the host association's tally for the season.
6. Floodlights to be used during Test matches, if required, wherever the facility exists.
7. Kookaburra balls to be continued in the Duleep Trophy.
8. The senior domestic season to be rescheduled in the following chronological order: 1. Challenger Series for the NKP Salve Trophy, 2. Duleep Trophy, 3. Ranji Trophy, 4. Irani Cup — Ranji champions vs Rest of India, 5. One-day tournaments (Vijay Hazare Trophy and Deodhar Trophy), 6. Domestic T20.
