Duleep Trophy not to be Featured in the 2017-2018 Domestic Season

That Duleep Trophy does not feature prominently in the Indian cricket calendar was very much clear when Kochi was allotted the traditional curtain-raiser of India’s domestic season during the peak monsoon season in 2013-14.

In the last few years, the relevance of the tournament has certainly decreased with national players not prioritising the tournament due to a busy cricket calendar.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) made a frivolous attempt to revive the event by making it a day-night affair last year with the likes of Gautam Gambhir, Cheteshwar Pujara and Yuvraj Singh featuring in it. And despite reports that suggested the tournament will continue to be played with the pink ball this year, The Times of India has reported that the season will start with Ranji Trophy from October 6.

Here is the tweet from PTI after BCCI’s technical committee meeting on August 1.

The @BCCI decides to continue with day/night matches using pink ball for Duleep Trophy. #Cricket

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 1, 2017

The news outlet claimed that it has a copy of the calendar approved by BCCI’s acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary on Friday (August 18). The season will start with the Ranji Trophy and will end with the Deodhar Trophy One-Day tournament, on March 18, 2018, with a maximum of two weeks separating two tournaments.

The latest developments, nevertheless, have surprised the members of the technical committee.

“There must be some confusion. It was understood that the tournament will go ahead. Strange that the tournament and fixtures committee has overlooked it,” a member of the technical committee told TOI on Friday. “This needs to be revisited be fore the schedule is released,” he added.

A couple of seasons ago, the tournament was omitted from the domestic calendar with the BCCI claiming that the need to test players in the shorter formats of the game for the ICC World Twenty20 in March 2016 was the reason behind it.

Meanwhile, the report further claimed that New Zealand A is due to come to India for a series in mid-September.

“As of now, the series is slated to start on September 19. We are in the last round of clearing the formalities with the government,” a top BCCI official told the daily.

And with the Indian team set to have a busy home schedule from the next month, the BCCI would find it tough to find a slot for the Duleep Trophy.

“India will be playing ODIs against Australia in September-October after the tour of Sri Lanka, and with the India A series on as well, top 30-32 players will be unavailable around that time,” the official added.