BCCI Secretary Jay Shah: The splitting up of the Ranji Trophy schedule and an experiment of doing away with the toss for the Men’s U23 C.K. Nayudu Trophy are amongst the stand-out features of the Indian domestic cricket calendar for the upcoming 2024-25 season.
As per the recommendations made by the working group, submitted to BCCI Secretary Jay Shah, which would be implemented subject to the Apex Council approval, the 2024/25 domestic season will kick off with the Duleep Trophy featuring four teams, moving away from its zonal format.
The four squads for the Duleep Trophy will be selected by the national senior men’s selection committee.
It will be followed by the Irani Cup and then the prestigious Ranji Trophy will begin with the first five rounds of league matches to be held in the first part of the schedule. The two remaining league matches of the Ranji Trophy and knockout stages will be held following the conclusion of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy.
It further says there will be a bigger gap between matches to allow players sufficient time for recovery and to maintain peak performance throughout the season, after complaints came from various cricketers like India’s seam-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur over lack of rest time between domestic matches, mainly during the Ranji Trophy.
It was also recommended that careful consideration be given to scheduling matches to minimize the impact of weather disruptions, especially after a lot of Ranji Trophy group stage matches were hit by foggy conditions during peak wintertime in the previous domestic season.
All women's Interzonal tournaments, including one-day, T20, and multi-day formats, will have teams selected by the national senior women’s selection committee.
Regarding the CK Nayudu Trophy, it has been proposed that the toss will be eliminated. Instead, the visiting team will have the right to choose whether to bat or bowl first.
The tournament will also implement a new points system aimed at promoting balanced performances. This includes awarding points for batting and bowling performances in the first innings, in addition to points for the first innings lead or outright win.
The proposal says a review will be conducted at the end of the season to assess the effectiveness of the new points system, with a decision on whether to implement it in the Ranji Trophy for the following season.