Domestic cricket will only happen when travelling is safe: Ganguly

PTI, Jul 9, 2020, 12:43 PM IST

Mumbai: The Indian domestic season will only start when it is safe for young players to travel within the country for their Ranji Trophy matches, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said.

There is huge uncertainty with regards to India’s domestic tournaments as IPL will be happening in October leading to a curtailed season due to coronavirus.

The 2020-21 domestic season would have started with Vijay Hazare in late August followed by Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy, and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Last season’s Irani Cup was canceled due to the announcement of Lockdown 1.

Asked about domestic cricket and junior cricket, Ganguly told Sports Tak, “It is necessary, but it will happen only after coronavirus. When it is safe, only then, especially junior cricket.”

Ganguly reasoned that India was a large country and teams needed to travel from one place to another for their matches and hence domestic cricket won’t start till everything is safe.

“We don’t want to expose young players. Our country is so large and our domestic cricket is so robust that everyone has to travel and play. So till the time, it is not safe, it will not happen,” clarified the BCCI boss.

Similarly, there are various tournaments for age-group cricket. India on Thursday recorded a single-day spike of 24,879 COVID-19 cases as the overall tally mounted to 7,67,296.

The death toll stood at 21,129 with 487 new fatalities, as per the Union health ministry.