At an event claimed by them to be a Special General Meeting (SGM), members of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have proposed a qualification system for the new entrants in the Ranji Trophy, India’s premier First Class tournament, for the forthcoming domestic season.
In addition to the existing 28 teams participating in the Ranji Trophy, the prolonged legal tussle has resulted in the Supreme Court and the Committee of Administrators (CoA) allotting status to new members including Bihar, Uttarakhand and five north-eastern associations comprising Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur and Meghalaya.
However, the BCCI members, during its meeting on Friday in New Delhi, decided to introduce a qualification round for the newbies, excluding Uttarakhand. “All the teams presently playing Ranji Trophy shall play in the Elite Group of Ranji Trophy. The new teams, namely Bihar and the North Eastern States shall play in the Plate Group of Ranji Trophy,” states the resolution of the meeting, accessed by The Hindu .
“The bottom two teams of the Elite Group (on the basis of points and NRR in case of equal points) and the top two teams of the Plate Group shall play a qualifying super league. The top two teams from the super league shall play in the Elite Group of Ranji Trophy in the following year and the bottom two shall play in the Plate Group.”
The members also decided to adapt the same formula for age-group and women’s domestic tournaments.
The summary of the decisions doesn’t however specify how the bottom-placed teams in the top-tier would be decided. Last season, 28 teams were divided in four groups of seven teams each and there were no promotions or relegations.
‘Not recognised’
It is unclear whether the members’ resolutions would be accepted by the CoA. Vinod Rai, the chief of the two-member CoA, has clarified that the SGM in itself cannot be recognised since it was held without the consent of the CoA.
