E-Paper
Hosting Syed Mushtaq Ali T20: BCCI gives Chandigarh a miss
Recently, BCCI officials had visited the city grounds hinting that the Punjab Cricket Association and the UT Cricket Association could jointly host the tournament in January
Chandigarh, Mohali and Mullanpur won’t be hosting the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy domestic matches that begin from January 10. Instead, Indore, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Vadodara and Kolkata will be hosting various domestic teams for the tournament.
A few days ago, the secretary of Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) Jay Shah and BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal had visited Chandigarh and Mullanpur grounds hinting that the Punjab Cricket Association and the UT Cricket Association could jointly host the T20 tournament in January.
It has been learnt that due to winter conditions, the northern venues have been exempted from hosting any BCCI matches. Chandigarh, Punjab and Uttarakhand had shown interest in hosting the T20 tournament matches, offering a secure bio-bubble environment. However, due to extreme cold weather and foggy conditions in the month of January, northern state units have been ruled out.
The 38 teams have been divided into five elite groups, A, B, C, D and E. The eight new state teams like Chandigarh, Bihar and outfits from the Northeast will be a part of the plate group. Punjab will travel to Bangalore for their matches.
UTCA constitutes committee
UTCA president Sanjay Tandon constituted a three-member cricket advisory committee (CAC) which will be responsible for the appointment of support staff as well as equally vital in the selection of players for the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament.
Selectors will be directly reporting to the committee which includes former Ranji cricketers Rakesh Jolly, Sharanjit Singh and Daniel Banerjee. Last season, former Indian fast bowler VRV Singh was appointed as head coach of Chandigarh senior men’s team that played Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. It remains to be seen whether he will be retained for this upcoming curtailed season.
