Cricket has been one of the most affected games with the ongoing pandemic curtailing human lives. International Cricket seems to have taken off from the English Soil. The domestic Schedule of the game has been affected the most as boards and authorities have focused themselves on reviving the revenue-generating aspect of the game.
World’s richest cricketing board has been thinking of a curtailed domestic season as per recent reports. The earlier plans of resuming the game at the domestic circuit by November look impossible.
Reports cite officials and further add that “It is possible that there will be no domestic season at all, or we start in December-January”. Ratnakar Shetty, while talking to EspnCricinfo, said that a few competitions are important and point out that ICC tournaments are connected to them. He is the former General Manager (game development) and has experience in domestic scheduling. It has to be noted that women’s one-day World Cup and Under-19 Men’s World Cup are slated for the upcoming year.
A month ago, it was reported that only tournaments will be played for senior men. For women, there were plans of 50-over and T20 leagues. The domestic season for women was scheduled to start from November 1 and run till April 12. The previous season during 2019-20 saw a total of 2036 games in total. The board as of now seems occupied with the Indian Premier League. There are numerous scenarios devised by experts for the domestic season to take place. The chances of starting the tournaments in November appear weak.
Next, there are possibilities of having a shortened domestic season with the start in December and end before the IPL extravaganza in summers. A further shortened manifest of the game could begin around January next year. There is scope for a zero year as well with no domestic cricket and an IPL to start things off.
Shetty further told ESPNCricinfo that BCCI will not leave any stone unturned to ensure a domestic season. He says that the game at the regional level is grooming ground for potential stars and they are vital for any team’s outing in events like ICC. He highlighted that state association will also have a big role in the process of having the tournaments.
While COVID cases are increasing in India at an unprecedented pace, the future seems unclear to says the least. BCCI might have to put it’s resources together like it did with IPL.
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