After experimenting with neutral venues for Ranji Trophy games last season, the Board of Control for Cricket in India will fall back to the old formula of home and away matches, reported the Times of India. The BCCI’s technical committee, headed by Sourav Ganguly, will meet in Kolkata on August 2 to finalise the move, the report said.
Earlier this year, during the Captains Conclave in Mumbai, most of the domestic captains gave a thumbs-down to the experiment of playing at neutral venues. “Most of the states have already made it clear that we should go back to the old format of at least four home matches,” a BCCI official was quoted as saying by the daily. “The last year became an ordeal for the teams as they were constantly travelling for three-and-a-half months. It made them homesick.”
BCCI’s technical committee will also sort out India’s fixtures for the upcoming season. This will also include the dates of India’s limited overs home series against Australia in October and November. The committee will be meeting after a gap of a few months as Ganguly, who is also the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal, had other commitments.
