The apex cricket board of India, BCCI has decided to organize the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Senior Women's ODI tournament in place of its premier domestic tournament Ranji Trophy, for the first time in 87 years. BCCI Secretary Jay Shah has given this information by writing a letter to all the state associations.
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Apart from this, BCCI has decided to give compensation to domestic players, who earn around 45000 rupees per day as match fees during the Ranji Trophy.
Matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy will be played in six cities. Venues/stadiums will be finalized next week and teams will enter the bio-bubble in the first week of February. The tournament will run for about a month.
The BCCI does not have much time as the Indian Premier League (IPL) could start by the end of March. Because of this, players will have to be available for their IPL teams in time.
Earlier, the BCCI was in a dilemma as they had the option to host either the Vijay Hazare Trophy or Ranji Trophy, this year. In this regard, the board also sought suggestions from the state associations. Most of the state associations preferred the Vijay Hazare Trophy over the Ranji Trophy.
"I am extremely happy to inform you that we are going to conduct the Senior Women's One Day tournament simultaneously with the Vijay Hazare Trophy and follow it up with Vinoo Mankad Trophy Under-19. This has been decided after having received your feedback on the domestic season 2020-21," Shah wrote a letter to state units, which is in possession of PTI.
BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and Secretary Shah wanted to organize the Ranji Trophy as the players get maximum match fees (around Rs 1.5 lakh per match), but creating a two-month bio-bubble for organising the Trophy in two phases amid the Coronavirus epidemic was not possible.
The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, India's first domestic tournament this year, started on January 10 amid the Coronavirus crisis and its final will be played on January 31.
On the other hand, with the tour of England, international cricket is returning to India after almost a year. The first Test match between India and England will be played in Chennai from 5th February.