The Indian Premier League (IPL) is proving costly for domestic tournaments conducted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). To accommodate the multi-million dollar league, the BCCI has decided to scrap the Deodhar Trophy for the 2009-10 season, after having cancelled the national T20 meet for the Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2008-09.
"The IPL is scheduled to start on March 18 and if we hold all our tournaments, the domestic season will spill over to April. That's why the Deodhar Trophy has been cancelled for this season," the BCCI's Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty told HT on Wednesday after a meeting of the BCCI Tour Programme and Fixtures Committee.
The Deodhar Trophy has been a prominent fixture in BCCI's annual calendar for 36 seasons from 1973-74. Named after the forefather of Indian cricket, Prof D.B. Deodhar, it traditionally featured the five zones. In the 2008-09 edition in Cuttack, a Zimbabwe XI became the first foreign team to take part in it, which increased the number of teams to six.
"Because of the IPL we couldn't hold the national T20 meet last season and after having brought it back into the calendar this time, we can't find space for the Deodhar Trophy, given that the IPL has been scheduled for March next year," Shetty added.
Also, the Mohammad Nissar Trophy match between the domestic champions of India and Pakistan has been withheld. This was understandable as it was Pakistan's turn to host the fourth edition of the one-off first-class fixture. The previous matches were held in Dharamshala (2006-07), Karachi (2007-08) and Delhi (2008-09).
ODI venues decided The venues and dates for Australia's tour of India for seven ODIs in October-November have been decided. However, the final schedule would be decided after the logistics are worked out.
Guwahati and Delhi get to stage ODIs as matches allotted to them last year (England-India ODIs) were cancelled following the terror attacks in Mumbai. The other five venues - Mohali, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Jaipur and Mumbai - get to stage the ODIs on the rotation policy. The first ODI would be played on October 25 with the other dates being October 28, 31, November 2, 5, 8 and 11.
First corporate meet South Zone will be the venue for the first BCCI Corporate Trophy from September 1 to 8. Twelve teams split into three groups will vie for the trophy in the league-cum-knockout event.
One-dayers for women The BCCI has also decided to do away with the national two-day meet for women, their equivalent of Ranji Trophy. For the next three seasons, there will only be one-dayers and T20 for women.
