Domestic Cricket will only happen when travelling is safe – Sourav Ganguly

The Board of Control for Cricket in India president Sourav Ganguly has confirmed domestic cricket will only happen when travelling is safe in the country. Ganguly also revealed that junior cricket will happen when the coronavirus situation improves. Ganguly added that the board doesn’t want the youngsters to get exposed.

There is a lot of uncertainty regarding the upcoming Indian domestic season. Irani Cup was cancelled due to the announcement of lockdown 1. On the other hand, the 2020-21 season was expected to kickstart with the Vijay Hazare Trophy in late August. Subsequently, Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy would have taken place.

However, there is no clarity when it would be safe to host these events. The BCCI is also looking to host the IPL in October and the glamorous T20 league is expected to get the preference ahead of domestic tournaments.

Ganguly confirmed that the domestic season will only happen after coronavirus as the board doesn’t want to take any risk.

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

“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.

There are many tournaments for different age groups but the youngsters will need to wait more before they can get back into action.

India has recorded an upward swing in the coronavirus graph and it would make sense not to host any kind of sporting event in the country in the immediate future. India has already recorded 7,67,296 cases and almost 25000 cases were noted on Thursday.

With the current health crisis it would be difficult for the BCCI to even host IPL in India. Ganguly has revealed that the first priority is to host the lucrative league in India as it would be expensive to host the event overseas. Sri Lanka and Emirates Cricket Board have extended helping hands towards the BCCI to stage the IPL.

It is a tricky situation for BCCI and they would need to take their decision after considering all the factors.