Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will explore the idea of a mini Indian Premier League in some foreign shores in September. A decision in this regard was ratified by the working committee on the last day of the four-day conclave that concluded at Dharmasala on Friday.
The final day was scheduled to approve the proposals that were taken since months. The most important among those was holding Ranji Trophy matches at neutral venues which was provided a rubber stamp by the working committee on Friday.
The national domestic Twenty20 tournament, under the name of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, will now be played among zones and not among states. Earlier, the tournament was being played among the five zones divided into groups and top two from each group used to advance to the next level to play a round-robin league. The two best teams would play the final to decide the champions. This was proposed by BCCI president Anurag Thakur a few days ago.
Besides these there were calls taken on venue agreement, season pass for media men and of course the promotion of the game in states and other nook and corner of the country. The all-powerful board is also introducing annual awards for the state associations in the categories — Best Website, Best Facebook page, Best Twitter Handle, Best Instagram, Best Media Facility, Best Media Operations.
The cricket board also made an attempt to bring the hosting associations under their scanner. It will enter into venue agreements with the associations hosting matches, both domestic and international in the next season. By which it wants to define their roles and responsibilities and minimum standards required.
Meanwhile, the working committee has ratified the suggestions regarding U-19 cricketers’ representing the nation. An U-19 cricketer can turn out for India only once in the ICC U-19 World Cup and a player can play only a couple of seasons in U-19 age-group category.