Ranji back to home-away format

The BCCI has decided to scrap the controversial neutral venue format in the Ranji Trophy after just one season, following criticism from leading domestic players including India opener Abhinav Mukund.

The Ranji Trophy starts October 6 and the decision to revert to the home-and-away format was taken by the BCCI technical committee headed by former India captain Sourav Ganguly.

Another notable decision taken was dividing 28 teams into four groups of seven instead of the usual three groups. The committee took the expected call after receiving negative feedback from the coaches and players at its annual conclave in Mumbai, earlier this year.

“The knock out matches will continue to be at neutral venues,” said BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary.

The neutral venue concept was tested last season with the approval of the Ganguly-led technical committee. Players not only played in front of empty stands but also faced lack of apathy from the host associations. There were logistical issues too.

“We have reverted to home and away format because of logistical reasons, even the players and captains wanted this,” said Ganguly.

“The matches will be less now, it was becoming too long a season. Associations also wanted to see their teams play at the home venue. It was on a trial basis and now we wanted to go back to original format,” he added.

With the addition of Chattisgarh, 28 teams were last year divided into nine teams each in group A and B and 10 teams including debutants Chattisgarh in group C.

From now on, there will be groups A, B, C and D with seven teams who will be playing six league games. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the quarterfinals.

It is a change from last season, where teams in Group A and B played eight games while the ones in Group C played nine. However, only two teams qualified from Group C and three each from the other groups.

Choudhary also added that pink ball experiment in Duleep Trophy would continue.

We have reverted to home and away format because of logistical reasons, even the players and captains wanted this