No Ranji Trophy for first time in 87 years

The Indian domestic cricket season has been cut short due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic. While the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy is currently on, other tournaments are under discussion. Meanwhile, the prestigious Ranji Trophy would not be held this season.

In what could be considered a sad piece of news for the fans of Indian cricket, the Ranji Trophy would not be held in the ongoing 2020-21 season. It would be the first time in 87 years that India's prestigious domestic First-Class tournament would be written of a season.

In a recent discussion within the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the decision was taken to scrap Ranji Trophy, owing to the associations' challenges to host the tournament during this challenging pandemic era. Also, a two-month-long bubble even for the tournament's truncated version would be too harsh on the players.

Meanwhile, the board has decided that it could go ahead with the 50-over tournament, Vijay Hazare Trophy, provided enough associations show interest. "I am extremely happy to inform you that we are going to conduct the Senior Women's One Day tournament simultaneously with the Vijay Hazare Trophy and follow it up with Vinoo Mankad Trophy Under-19. This has been decided after having received your feedback on the domestic season 2020-21," BCCI secretary Jay Shah wrote in a letter to state associations, reports PTI.

Shah also stated that the ongoing pandemic has made it difficult to plan out a proper domestic calendar, while the same would be tried out in the coming months. "As you are aware, we have lost a lot of time and consequently, it has been difficult to plan the cricket calendar on account of the precautions that are necessary for the safe conduct of the games," he further noted.

Shah further thanked the state associations for successfully hosting the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. "I write this with some satisfaction and whole lot of gratitude towards the state associations and staff of the BCCI for the successful conduct of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament so far after having delivered a flawless IPL earlier," the letter read.