Domestic Calendar: BCCI plans to start Ranji season in December; no Irani, Duleep Trophy this year
New Delhi: The BCCI plans to kick-start its 2021-22 domestic season in September this year with the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament and has also allocated a three-month window to the Ranji Trophy from December after the marquee event had to be cancelled last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the Duleep Trophy, Deodhar Trophy and Irani Cup are not a part of the tentative calendar prepared by the cricket operations team. Apart from this, five women's competitions have also been dropped from the roster.
PTI has accessed the tentative domestic calendar prepared and discussed at the Apex Council meeting held on Friday.
The 2020-21 season was a severely truncated one with only the National T20 (Mushtaq Ali) and ODI (Vijay Hazare Trophy) championships being held in the wake of pandemic. For women, only the National One-Day meet was organised.
Amid a second wave of COVID-19 cases across India, the BCCI is still hopeful of conducting the domestic season across age-groups in men and women's categories after a curtailed last season.
With India playing the T20 World Cup in October and the mega IPL auctions in the offing next year, it is understood that all stakeholders want to start off with two white ball tournaments -- Mushtaq Ali T20 between "mid-September to October" followed by the Vijay Hazare Trophy in November.
Ranji Trophy, India's premier tournament which was cancelled for the first time in 87 years in 2020, has been planned between December and March in the upcoming season.
The BCCI has also slotted the U-23 tournaments for men and women along with the U-19 events which weren't held during the last season.
The performances in the U-19 One Day Challenger tournament along with Cooch Behar Trophy (days format) and Vinoo Mankad trophy (one day) will help in selection of India colts team for ICC U-19 World Cup next year.
Women's T20 as well as ODI Challenger Trophy will not be played along with these events' under-23 versions. The under-19 women's T20 Challenger Trophy will also not be played.
Complete Calendars (Tentative)
Men
Senior Men
=======
Syed Mushtaq Ali (T20) (Mid Sept-Oct, '21)
Vijay Hazare Trophy (One Day) (November, '21)
Ranji Trophy (First-class) (Dec '21-Mar '22)
U-23 Men
======
National U-23 One Day (Mid Oct-Nov, '21)
CK Nayudu Trophy (days format) (Dec, '21-March '22)
Boys' U-19
=======
Vinoo Mankad (One Day) (October, '21)
U-19 One Day Challenger (November, '21)
Cooch Behar (Multi Day) (Nov '21-Jan '22)
Boys' U-16
=======
Vijay Merchant Trophy (Multi Day) (October -December, '21)
Senior Women
=========
Senior Women's T20 League (October, '21)
Senior Women's One Day league (November, '21)
U-23 Women
========
Women's U-23 T20 League (December, '21)
Women's U-23 One Day League (January, '22)
U-19 Girls
=======
U-19 T20 League (January, '22)
U-19 One Day League (last week of March, '22)
Inter Zonal University Cricket
Vizzy Tropy (Men)
(Aprl, 2022).
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Kantara mimicking case: HC extends interim relief given to actor Ranveer Singh till March 9
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka High Court on Monday extended the interim relief given to Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh till March 9, in a case related to mimicking a character from the movie, 'Kantara Chapter-1', and allegedly mocking a deity.
The actor had approached the High Court seeking the quashing of the FIR against him for mimicking Rishab Shetty's role as 'Chavunda' deity in the movie.
While mimicking, Singh had called the deity a "ghost". The actor was asked to appear before the court in person on Monday.
Appearing on behalf of the actor, his counsel Sajjan Poovayya said Singh was stuck in London and was unable to reach Bengaluru due to the conflict in West Asia.
The complainant, who is a lawyer, alleged that his religious sentiments were hurt by calling the deity a ghost. On the directions of a local Court, the police registered a case against the actor.
The High Court on February 24 granted interim relief to the actor with directions to the police not to take any coercive steps against him.
