KL Rahul down with Covid, but not ruled out of WI tour

KL Rahul

KL Rahul's return to international cricket after a sports hernia surgery has been stalled by COVID-19. "KL Rahul is down with COVID," informed BCCI president Sourav Ganguly after an Apex Council meeting at a five-star hotel in Andheri on Thursday.

Rahul's inclusion in teams for the limited overs series in the West Indies was subject to fitness and has not yet been ruled out of the Caribbean series. He missed out on the England and Ireland tours due to the surgery performed in Germany and has been out of action since the completion of the IPL.

Ganguly also informed the media that a Commonwealth Games-bound Indian women's cricketer is down with COVID-19.

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SA to tour India

Meanwhile, South Africa are set to play three T20Is after the Asia Cup, which could be held in the UAE after Sri Lanka expressed its inability to host it due to the ongoing turmoil in their country.

"South Africa is coming over for three T20Is. It [the series] will be followed by three T20Is against Australia. Ranchi, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Indore and Mohali will host these matches," Ganguly added.

In another significant development, the BCCI is contemplating a hike in prize money for domestic tournaments. "The prize money has not been reviewed since 2014. The office-bearers will take a decision in this regard," said a BCCI source.

A full-fledged season

A full-fledged domestic season was announced as well. "It will be on home-and-away basis. We are also introducing an U-16 tournament for girls since we have the U-19 women's World Cup that year [2023]," said Ganguly. It is learnt that there is a significant increase in tournaments in the women's schedule.

The Duleep Trophy, which will be played from September 8, will return to the zonal format. For the last few years, teams were called India Green, India Blue and India Red.

The domestic season will start with white-ball tournaments - Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 (October 11 to November 5), Vijay Hazare Trophy (November 12 to December 2) with the Ranji Trophy scheduled to be held from December 13 to February 28.