BCCI can do U-turns at great speed

Committee (led by Sourav Ganguly) was in the dark and the COA, responding to outrage once the decision was announced, stepped in to douse the fire.

The flip-flop points to a serious governance deficit and raises questions about who calls the shots on important technical matters. It also shows cricketing decisions are not fully thought through, a tendency first noticed in last season’s hasty decision to banish Ranji to ‘neutral’ venues.

Playing around with a settled domestic structure is a disservice to cricket and, in this case, an insult to a great cricketer.

Duleepsinhji never played for India, choosing instead to represent England for whom he made 173 in 1929 on his Test debut in an Ashes game. In 12 Tests he hit 3 centuries, averaging 58.5. In 205 first class games he scored 15,485 runs with 50 centuries, including a 333 for Sussex against NorthNew ants made in one day.

All this in just seven seasons of sensational cricket. At 27, Duleep was done, run out by illness, a pulmonary condition that also forced him to withdraw from Jardine’s body line series. Post retirement, he became a national selector serving as India’s High Commissioner to Australia and Zealand.

The Duleep Trophy, instituted in 1961 to celebrate the memory of this great, is the highest level of domestic cricket, just one level below Tests. It started with five zonal teams playing knockout games and in 1962 West Indian fast bowlers were included in each team. In 2002-03, one foreign team was added to the draw, an experiment which lasted till 2008 when the original format of five teams was restored.

Scheduling is another big challenge for Duleep Trophy. With many international commitments and T20s to be accommodated, it’s difficult to find a threeweek window for a tournament which has four-day games.

These challenges require careful thought and long term clarity. Not just for developing a robust structure that promotes quality, but also to honour its past greats.