BCCI sweats over conducting Ranji Trophy as cases rise

Photo for representational purpose. Picture Courtesy/iStock

The rapid rise in COVID-19 and Omicron cases has put the BCCI on a sticky wicket. With the Ranji Trophy set to kick off on January 13 at six centres (Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram), the BCCI is sweating over the fate of the tournament which had to be shelved last season.

Mumbai on Saturday clocked over 6,000 COVID-19 cases. Though the BCCI was swift in calling off the U-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy since that age group is not vaccinated, the Board officials are keeping a close watch on the rise in cases especially at centres where the Ranji Trophy will be played.

"We are watching the developments closely. We have not decided anything so far, but if cases continue to rise rapidly, we may be forced to do a rethink about conducting the Ranji Trophy.

"We are hopeful that the tournament will take place as the players are fully vaccinated, which wasn't the case last year and that's why we had to call it off. We are working on how can we conduct the tournament in case there are a couple of positive cases in the course of the tournament. Only in a worst-case scenario we will postpone it," said a top BCCI official on Saturday.

"We will take decisions based on advice from the medical team. The BCCI is keen to conduct the Ranji season this time," the official added. Meanwhile, the Mumbai Cricket Association on Saturday decided to postpone all tournaments till further notice.