The Board’s Committee of Administrators (COA) on Tuesday decided to restore the Duleep Trophy after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), a few days ago, had scrapped the tournament for the upcoming season when the domestic calendar was released.
Duleep Trophy is an inter-zonal first-class tournament which is being played with pink ball since last season.
CoA member Diana Edulji confirmed the Duleep Trophy will be played. “Duleep Trophy has been restored. It will be held and the logistics will be worked out. We have told the Board not to scrape it. It is a very prestigious tournament and it should be held,” Edulji said after their marathon five-hour meeting at the BCCI headquarters here.
READ | Sourav Ganguly in the dark about Duleep Trophy not taking place
Earlier in the day, Sourav Ganguly, the chairman of BCCI’s technical committee wrote to general manager MV Sridhar asking why the Duleep Trophy was scrapped.
“I am reading in the media that Duleep Trophy has not or may not take place this season. I don’t know that’s true or not but if you remember, the members of the technical committee had agreed to use pink balls again for the Duleep matches and the tournament was supposed to be held in the same format as last year,” Ganguly wrote to Sridhar in an e-mail.
{{/usCountry}}“I am reading in the media that Duleep Trophy has not or may not take place this season. I don’t know that’s true or not but if you remember, the members of the technical committee had agreed to use pink balls again for the Duleep matches and the tournament was supposed to be held in the same format as last year,” Ganguly wrote to Sridhar in an e-mail.
{{/usCountry}}It, however, remains to be seen how the BCCI will manage to squeeze in the tournament in its busy domestic schedule.
Meanwhile, the COA are in the process of redrafting the constitution as per the Supreme Court’s order. “It’s still work in progress. We are meeting on the September 8 in Delhi when we will finalise the constitution,” said COA chief Vinod Rai.
When asked whether the October deadline for BCCI election as per new constitution could still be met, Rai said: “It will all depend upon when the Supreme Court will give a go ahead.”