Far from the glitz of India’s home cricket season, the 83rd Ranji Trophy will begin on Thursday

Amidst the euphoria over India regaining the No. 1 ranking in Test cricket and the uncertainty sparked by the Justice Lodha-BCCI furore, India’s premier domestic cricket tournament is quietly beginning another season. The 83rd edition of the Ranji Trophy begins on Thursday with 28 teams, including Mumbai the defending champions, fighting it out to be crowned the champions of Indian domestic cricket

In a unique move, all matches in the Ranji Trophy will be played at neutral venues, a departure from the past where only the knockout matches were hosted that way. In May 2016, the BCCI's Technical Committee, which is headed by former captain Sourav Ganguly, recommended this move to ensure that domestic cricket remained competitive, no doubt prompted by the fact that nine matches in the last season finished within two days. One of these games included Odisha's being bowled out for 37 by Bengal, who hosted their opponents on a ridiculous pitch in Kalyani.

The problem of poor, under-prepared pitches has been one that has plagued the tournament for a long time. Former Indian great Rahul Dravid even touched on the prickly topic, calling it “a waste of time, energy and money”.

Home advantage versus local support?

“The reason for the Ranji Trophy is not only to decide the winner in the end,” Dravid added. “It also has a job to develop and prepare cricketers for the international stage. And if we keep playing on bad wickets like these, we are not going to develop and produce good cricketers.”

So while, teams this season will no longer be able to have the advantage that home conditions provide, it also means that whatever pitiful local support they may have received earlier will likely evaporate. For instance, Jharkhand will take on Maharashtra in Delhi, Tamil Nadu will play Mumbai in Haryana and Kerala’s game against Jammu & Kashmir will be in Mumbai. Can you imagine any supporters at these games?

For a team like Assam which showed tremendous tenacity last year, when they finished third in their group and progressed to the semi-final, the move to neutral venues has not been appreciated. “It will be like a knockout match where hardly anybody is watching the game, “ said Sanath Kumar who coached the team last season, to ESPNCricinfo. “Instead of this recommendation, they could have had a curator to prepare the pitches. That would have been an easier solution.”

Chhattisgarh look to make a mark

But this will not be the only new aspect to this season. Chhattisgarh will make its debut in the Ranji Trophy, becoming the 28th team in the competition. The state association, the Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh, was given full-member status by the BCCI in February 2016. It is the end of a long journey for the state which only received Associate membership in 2008.

Former Indian player Mohammad Kaif will lead the Chhattisgarh team in their first Ranji season, while former Mumbai wicket-keeper Sulakshan Kulkarni is their coach. Chhattisgarh will start life in the Ranji Trophy in Group C with a match against Tripura in Ranchi. But even before their first match, a controversy of sorts has sprung up – the Chhattisgarh High Court issued a notice to the BCCI and the state cricket association over a Public Interest Litigation alleging bias in the selection of the state’s Ranji team.

The pink ball, after being tried out in the Duleep Trophy, will also make an appearance in the Ranji Trophy. BCCI president Anurag Thakur had made that announcement after the Duleep Trophy final. However, no match or venue has been designated yet. With a Supreme Court hearing on October 6, it may well be the last thing on the BCCI’s mind.

As for the players, amidst the uncertainty, there is also opportunity. The national team may be the cynosure of all eyes in the middle of a long home season, but that also means is that those in the Ranji Trophy can also keep themselves in contention for a national call-up.

In such a long season, spots may well open up in the national team owing to injury or lack of form. In that case, consistent performances in the Ranji Trophy could go a long way in resulting in a call-up to the Indian team.