MUMBAI: A day was all it took to do a complete about turn. The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Tuesday postponed (cancelled?) the Ranji Trophy, Col C K Nayudu Trophy & Senior Women’s T20 League for the 2021-22 season in the “wake of the rising COVID-19 cases in the country”.
It was only on Monday that BCCI president Sourav Ganguly “confirmed” that the upcoming edition of the Ranji Trophy would be staged as planned. “Yes, the Ranji Trophy will proceed as planned,” Ganguly had told ANI.
While the Ranji Trophy was scheduled to be played from January 13 to March 20, the Col C K Nayudu Trophy was also slated to begin this month. As for the Senior Women’s T20 League, it was scheduled to commence next month.
On the reasons for the postponement/cancellation, the Indian cricket board declared: “BCCI does not want to compromise the safety of the players, support staff, match officials and other participants involved and hence, has decided to put the three tournaments on hold till further notice. The BCCI will continue to assess the situation and take a call on the start of the tournaments accordingly.
“BCCI thanks and continues to appreciate the efforts of the healthcare workers, state associations, players, support staff, match officials and all the service providers who put their best foot forward to host more than 700 matches across 11 tournaments in the current 2021-22 domestic season.”
POSTSCRIPT: The BCCI is kidding no one in its declarations of safety being its primary motivation in likely giving these events a miss for yet another season. The fact is that domestic tournaments the BCCI conducts have only revenue outgoes and zero by way of income. Therefore, said tournaments are low on the priority pecking order, public pronouncements notwithstanding. Ergo dispensable.
Is that a bad thing? Well, the BCCI is NOT a private for profit body. As the richest cricketing body in the world, it not only has the responsibility to nurture the game in the country, but also has the financial wherewithal to do so.
Nothing throws its failure to do so in starker relief than the treatment being meted out to women’s cricket by the Indian board. Not that it should surprise anyone. All the power points in the BCCI’s hierarchy are manned by politically driven men. That they – individually and as a collective – pay only lip service to women’s cricket is but par for the course.
