Holding Ranji Trophy at neutral venues is a self-defeating move from BCCI; will not solve issue of doctored pitches

Amid the brouhaha of appointing the Indian team cricket coach last week, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) working committee also made one significant amendment to the state of domestic cricket in India — all Ranji Trophy matches will henceforth be played on neutral venues . The move is intended to ensure that matches of India’s premier domestic tournament would not be staged on doctored pitches. A few matches were played on rank turners last season and were wrapped up in under three days. Batsmen were at the receiving end while bowlers’ performances were greatly exaggerated. This irked the BCCI, whose technical committee came up with the neutral venues proposal, ostensibly for the greater good of Indian cricket. And though many of the member associations were reportedly against the move, the working committee has ratified it. What the decision entails is that from the forthcoming season there could be a Tripura vs Jharkand match at the Feroz Shah Kotla, or an Assam vs Odissa encounter at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. Just how unappetising these matches would be for local cricket lovers hardly needs to be stated. And these are not the exceptions. Every match, involving all 28 teams (Chattisgarh is a new entrant this year) would henceforth be played in regions and stadia with which they have little or no connect. [caption id=“attachment_2860400” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Sachin Tendulkar raised concerns about playing Ranji Trophy at neutral venues. PTI file image[/caption] Three years ago, Sachin Tendular, playing his farewell season of domestic cricket, expressed shock and disappointment when the BCCI scheduled Ranji Trophy knock-out matches at neutral venues. Tendulkar, who turned out for Mumbai against Saurashtra for the semi-final in Chennai, was sufficiently vexed at playing to an empty stadium. The batting maestro made 122, but said at the end of the day, “I’m not in favour of neutral venues. I feel that one of the teams should play at home. As for the wicket, it should be monitored, which would be the case if one team was playing on its home turf. It is fun to have crowds supporting you at your home ground and going against you during away games. It adds to the intensity, people rooting for you, the atmosphere is just different. Younger players get to learn how to play in front of hostile crowds. It is a great learning experience” Nothing has changed since Tendulkar made that first-hand observation, yet the board has now opted to play even league matches at neutral venues. A few years ago, when English county cricket was going through dwindling spectator interest, it was derisively said that “two men and a dog” were at hand to witness matches. This might soon turn out to be the fate of the Ranji Trophy as well. The fear is that with no local interest, even office-bearers of the host associations might not turn up, leaving the hosting logistics to hired hands. Another major concern which cannot be understated is the participation of local media. Thus far, a number of regional and English language newspapers have taken an active interest in covering Ranji Trophy because the local team was involved. They sent reporters and photographers and ensured decent coverage in the local print media. But what interest would newspapers in Bengaluru, Mumbai or Chennai have in extensively covering say a local match between, say, Himachal Pradesh and Services? None whatsoever. With limited or zero local coverage, Ranji Trophy would all but fall off the radar and this would only be to the detriment of the long-term interest of Indian cricket. It may be recalled that for years when Karnataka did not have top cricketers following the retirement of the stars it was the local media that diligently followed the progress of budding lights like KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Gopal, etc, and kept the focus on them till they caught the attention of the national media and selectors. Now, with the board opting for this self-defeating move, such media involvement and focus will be almost impossible. As for the concern over doctored pitches, like the one at Dindigul which got over in less than two days, the decision to have an underprepared pitch actually backfired on the home side Tamil Nadu who were all out for 68 & 69. The Board should have instead had the conviction to go after the host association and blacklisted the venue. They didn’t. Perhaps the time has come to have a central pool of extensively trained curators who are put in charge of grounds. West Zone-based curators who are familiar with soil, clay and weather conditions in their zone could go around preparing pitches in that region. Other zones could also be organised likewise and they could report to a central authority rather than the host association. This would minimise the number of matches played on doctored pitches. But the Board is unfortunately caught up in a frenzy to give an impression that it is doing something. That it might be wrong is not a concern.