State captains keen on Ranji Trophy in COVID-hit season

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While the BCCI is contemplating which domestic tournament to schedule in the COVID-hit season, some prominent captains of state teams have batted for the Ranji Trophy.

Jaydev Unadkat, who led Saurashtra to a Ranji title last season for the first time in 70 years, wants a full-fledged tournament of four-day matches. "A truncated four-day cricket tournament would not make sense. It is important to have a full tournament," Unadkat told mid-day from Porbandar on Wednesday.

Aditya Tare, skipper of 41-time Ranji champions Mumbai, also pitched for first-class matches. "Four-day cricket is a challenging format. Remuneration-wise too it supports a lot of domestic cricketers," said Tare.

Vidarbha's two-time Ranji-winning skipper Faiz Fazal felt red-ball cricket should be a priority. "Personally, I love Ranji Trophy. However, since we have the T20 World Cup next year, the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 and Ranji Trophy are the two tournaments that can be conducted," he said.

Unadkat also sees no problem if the IPL and the Ranji Trophy are held simultaneously. "Players, who won't feature in the IPL, can play in the Ranji Trophy. Also, we could start the Ranji Trophy in March and the knockouts can be played after the IPL," said the India left-arm pacer.

"We didn't get a chance to celebrate our Ranji triumph. On the last day [March 13 in Rajkot] of the Ranji final [against Bengal] there were no spectators allowed in the ground. So hopefully, we will defend our Ranji title and have a double celebration this time," added Unadkat, who has played one Test, seven ODIs and 10 T20Is.

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