Pic Courtesy: facebook
Kolkata: With the new format of the Ranji Trophy being announced yesterday by the BCCI members who made it clear from this season onwards the tournament would be played in home and away venues.
The captain of the Bengal cricket team Manoj Tiwary shares his views to www.xtratime.in
“It is a good decision. When the players and coaches meeting took place all decided that it would be better to play in both home and away venues. In general people usually appear in less numbers at Ranji Games, but there is a different feeling while playing in our home ground. Each team too craves for a home advantage as the wicket would be known” said Manoj.
A lot of players and coaches too had complained about the Logistic problem which a team faces while playing in neutral venues, Manoj said “The Logistic problem is tough. Last year we had to play three back to back games in North India where the only means of transport was by bus or by private car. Travelling did affect the players as the duration of off days between two games was less and as a result players couldn’t get the required recovery time.”
Bengal has a many pacers with the likes Ashoke Dinda, Ishaan Porel, Mukesh Kumar, Sayon Ghosh, Kanishka Seth so requisite amount of recovery time is need on which the Bengal skipper said, “We had a number of pacers in the team who didn’t get the recovery time. In the Ranji games a bowler has to bowl quite a number of overs for days, so requisite recovery time is needed.”
“Suppose me play in a venue where both neutral teams are playing. We have faced such situations where the ground curators haven’t treated the field well as their home team is not playing. So I say this decision is quite good” he added.
Each team will be playing 6 games as the teams would be placed in pools comprising of 4 teams in each pool. Only the top 2 teams from each pool will be selected.
“Yes it is atough challenge, every year it is tough. Each team is almost similar and the game is played as equals. We will have to accept this challenge, and perform well in the ground” Manoj said.
Manoj is currently in New York with his wife Sushmita, spending a holiday after a tiring season of IPL and domestic cricket.
“I played the best IPL season till date at Rising Pune Supergiants and then after I played for Kalighat. So a break was needed to refresh myself and then I will be ready for the upcoming season” he concluded.
“This is good decision; everyone wants to get a home advantage. And this is not a bad decision at all so I congratulate the BCCI for it. However the competition will be tougher and unlike previous times, the games would much be result oriented which would be a good decision for domestic cricket” said Sairaj Bahutule who is currently at Karnataka for the KSCA tournament with the CAB XI team.