The past week has seen a sharp hike in Covid-19 cases due to the Omicron variant. The BCCI has taken the decision of postponing the Ranji Trophy 2021 edition. The tournament was cancelled last year as well due to the second wave of the virus. The tournament is called off for an indefinite period of time. The tournament was supposed to start on January 13, but now it’s not feasible.
BCCI in his statement said, “The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday announced the postponement of the Ranji Trophy, Col C K Nayudu Trophy & Senior Women’s T20 League for the 2021-22 season in the wake of the rising COVID-19 cases in the country,”
Two of the popular tournaments like Ranji Trophy and the Col C K Nayudu Trophy were supposed to begin in January. On the other hand, the Senior Women’s T20 League was scheduled to start in February. BCCI wants to ensure the safety of players, support staff and match officials and basically, everyone involved in the matches. Once the situation improves, BCCI will plan the schedule of the tournaments accordingly.
Sourav Ganguly, the president of BCCI on Tuesday in his statement said that there will be no changes in the schedule. The situation in Kolkata which was supposed to be the venue of the Ranji Trophy isn’t really great. The president of the Cricket Association of Bengal, Avishek Dalmia, has caught Covid-19, along with seven players in the Bengal Ranji Trophy team.
As per sources, “The decision was taken after considering all the factors. We will continue to monitor the situation. Several associations, too, have reported a surge in COVID cases. So, keeping that and travel factors in mind, this was the best decision,”
The Mumbai team has reached the venue to play a few practice games before entering the bio- bubble. However, now the team will be returning to Mumbai by Wednesday. A decision will also be taken on the home series against West Indies in February.
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