Sunil Gavaskar Slams BCCI For India 'A' Scheduling

Indian cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskar has slammed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for scheduling the India ‘A’ matches. He believes that the Indian Premier League (IPL) is overshadowing the premier first-class cricket tournament of India–the Ranji Trophy.

Currently, the India A side is touring New Zealand along with the senior camp so that it can provide players from the junior team in case of injuries.

Veteran Gavaskar believes that this sort of scheduling proves to have a negative impact on the state teams participating in the Ranji. He further went on to say that other countries do not send their A teams to countries where the senior national team tours.

Gavaskar has emphasized on the need of the authority to intervene and take necessary actions to maintain the structured glory of Indian cricket. He has raised questions on how come these tours become non-existent during IPL?

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Sunil Gavaskar Slams BCCI For India ‘A’ Scheduling:

Gavaskar advised the board to have a look on the program of other nations’ ‘A’ teams. He criticized the board for not conducting any such tour during the IPL.

“Look at the programme of the ‘A’ teams of other countries and you will find that they tour overseas only when their domestic season is not on. How come there is no ‘A’ tour or under-19 tour during the two months of the IPL?”, Gavaskar wrote in his column in Mid-Day.

Gavaskar seems worried about the current state of Ranji Trophy in India. He has stated that such kind of scheduling diminishes the powers of the state teams in Ranji Trophy.

“One can understand the national team being out as it’s a bilateral commitment in line with the ICC FTP but to have the India A team also out touring at the same time means that most Ranji Trophy teams are well below strength,” wrote Gavaskar.

Gavaskar has also criticized the Federation of International Cricketers’ Association (FICA) for not challenging the issue of burnout since IPL’s outburst.

“Burnout is a word that was bandied about quite a lot at the start of the century but as soon as the IPL too off nobody, especially the so-called protector of cricketers rights FICA has uttered the word again. That the national championship doesn’t mean much has been clear for a few years now that the IPL is here and it’s been emphasized once again by the way the Ranji Trophy has been devalued with the best talent out of the country,” said Gavaskar.

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