Committee and CoA differ on Bihar’s comeback in Ranji Trophy

The Sourav Ganguly-led technical committee of the BCCI on Monday expressed its reservations with the Committee of Administrators’ (CoA) recommendation to reinstate Bihar in next year’s Ranji Trophy.

The recommendation was placed by GM (Cricket Operations) Saba Karim during the meeting in Kolkata.

According to a senior BCCI official present in the meeting, after Karim placed the suggestion about Bihar’s inclusion in first-class cricket, the committee unanimously felt that a proper process should be followed in this regard.

“Saba came armed with a letter from the CoA which had suggestions that technical committee okays Bihar’s inclusion in Ranji Trophy. He said that as per Supreme Court’s directive, we cannot deny Bihar from playing Ranji Trophy,” the official told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

Karim tried to convince the committee by stating that Bihar’s case is slightly different from the northeastern states, where cricket is not a primary sport and lacks infrastructure. Interestingly, Karim, and legendary MS Dhoni, made their Ranji Trophy debuts for Bihar before the association was suspended in 2004.