To prepare for Australia series, India ‘A’ to tour New Zealand
NEWDELHI: The BCCI is planning an India A tour of New Zealand that will serve as a shadow tour of the all-important tour of Australia later in the year. Speaking during an interaction here on Friday, Saba Karim, BCCI’S GM (Cricket Operations), said ‘A’ tours are being planned keeping senior tours in mind.
India are scheduled to leave for Australia early November for a tour comprising three T20IS, four Tests and three ODIS. India will then travel to New Zealand where they are scheduled to play five ODIS and three T20IS.
“We travel to New Zealand. That will be like a preparatory tour for Australia, like what we did for the England series. We had Ajinkya Rahane, Murali Vijay and Rishabh Pant there. That’s the way to go forward. We plan have shadow tours now. That will be more constructive,” said Karim.
In domestic news, Karim said there are stringent rules in place to check malpractices when it comes to recruitment of guest players in the nine new Ranji teams. “Outstation players have been given time till September 15. They have to get an NOC from the state they were registered with last season. They will also need an acceptance letter from the new state,” said Karim.
With reports of ‘pay-to-play’ emerging in some states, Karim said the Anti Corruption Unit has been activated. “If we get evidence, we will take substantial action against that state. If there is any tampering of birth certificates, we will ban them (players) for two seasons.”
The BCCI has also decided that umpires will evaluate the performance of its match referees instead of the other way round. The registered umpires have been graded in four categories based on performance in the last two seasons and accordingly allotted matches. With matches going up from 900 to 2017 this season, Karim said they are looking to include 10-12 match referees and 14-15 umpires.