Irani Cup 2018: BCCI's Conclave Set To Hamper Vidarbha's Preparations

Vidarbha, who are all set to play their maiden Irani Cup, are not at all pleased with scheduling of captain’s and coaches’ conclave on March 12, a report in TOI suggests.

Usually, BCCI schedules the conclave after the end of the domestic season and IPL but this time, the board preponed the meeting to the month of March.

It was to take place on March 2 but got delayed due to the festival of Holi.

The meeting is all set to take place on March 12 in Delhi, which will automatically affect Vidarbha’s preparations ahead of the much awaited Irani Cup.

“BCCI should have kept the Irani Trophy in mind before scheduling this conclave. They could have scheduled it for the match. We are going to discuss this with the BCCI. Both Pandit and Faiz have been an integral part of planning the strategies throughout the season. Their absence, at that moment, will hurt us. Pandit is also upset with the schedule. He generally prefers to stay with the team, especially before an important match. He didn’t go for the dinner outside the hotel during the knock-outs despite various invitations. For him, winning is everything,” a source told TOI.

Vidarbha defeated Delhi in the final to clinch their maiden Ranji Trophy title.

The Faiz Fazal led side was never a top contender to win the cup.

However, once they moved ahead, they came in the reckoning and defeated heavyweight Delhi in the final to lift the trophy.

The team is leaving no stone unturned to win Irani Cup as well but the BCCI’s meet is all set to hamper Vidarbha’s preparations.

Irani Cup will be played at Nagpur from March 14 to 18.

Just two days prior to the start of the tournament, captain and coach will be Delhi for the meet, which is not at all a good sign.

Being the winner of Ranji Trophy, Vidarbha will have a crucial role to play in the meet as well.

The BCCI conclave is one of the stages where talks regarding domestic cricket take place.

Last year, one of the major decisions that were taken was to scrap the neutral venue format from Ranji Trophy.

Vidarbha are in dilemma as they cannot miss the conclave as well.

As of now, there is no change in conclave’s date and it is all set to take place March 12.

Irani Cup, which was to be played in the month of January, is all set to kick off on March 14.

Rest of India squad: Karun Nair (C), Prithvi Shaw, Abhimanyu Easwaran, R Samarth, Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, KS Bharat (WK), R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem, Anmolpreet Singh, Siddharth Kaul, Ankit Rajpoot, Navdeep Saini, Atit Sheth.