Image Source : TWITTER/BCCIDOMESTIC Audition earlier than the public sale: India’s much-delayed home season lastly will get underway
India will witness its first main cricket event within the nation because the COVID-19 disruption when the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy begins the much-delayed home season from Sunday, presenting a platform for the hopefuls to impress earlier than IPL auctions.
The presence of seasoned campaigners corresponding to Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina and Ishant Sharma will add sheen to the event however one of many greatest speaking factors within the lead-up has been S Sreesanth’s comeback to top-flight cricket after serving a ban for his alleged involvement within the 2013 IPL corruption scandal.
Sreesanth, 37, will prove for Kerala within the nationwide T20 championship from January 10-31.
But the main focus, principally, shall be on home uncapped gamers with the IPL auctions scheduled in February.
The event additionally assumes significance because it is a chance for the brand new senior choice committee to attract up a wider pool of gamers for the T20 World Cup, which shall be performed in India later this yr.
No cricketing exercise had occurred since mid-March final yr and after meticulous planning, the BCCI determined to conduct the event at six totally different venues with as many bio bubbles.
The groups have been divided into six teams — 5 Elite and one Plate and the league stage matches shall be performed at Mumbai, Vadodara, Indore, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru with the knockouts scheduled in Ahmedabad.
The lead-up had its share of controversies with many gamers lodging a grievance after being served poor high quality meals in a complicated South Mumbai lodge. Then, workers members of a lodge in Chennai, the place gamers of three Plate Group groups had been staying, had been discovered COVID-19 optimistic.
However, as soon as the event begins, the main focus will shift utterly on the gamers, together with younger weapons corresponding to Ruturaj Gaikwad, Priyam Garg, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shivam Dube, Sarfaraz Khan, R Sai Kishore, M Siddharth.
Then there are the seasoned execs too, seeking to get their act collectively within the World Cup yr.
Veteran India speedster Ishant will make a comeback to aggressive cricket since struggling a aspect pressure throughout final yr’s IPL.
Ishant will prove for Delhi below the captaincy of one other senior India participant, Shikhar Dhawan, who will use the event as a preparatory floor forward of the upcoming white-ball sequence towards England.
India seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has been named within the Uttar Pradesh group, will even be eager to show his health and type.
He had sustained a thigh muscle damage in the course of the IPL and was dominated out of the Australia Australia tour. Coming off a stint on the National Cricket Academy (NCA), it is going to be Kumar’s first aggressive event submit the damage.
Former India participant Suresh Raina, who shall be representing Uttar Pradesh, will begin afresh after he pulled out of the IPL citing private causes.
The event is equally vital for the flamboyant Suryakaumar Yadav, who wish to make a degree earlier than the brand new choice panel after being snubbed for the Australia tour by the previous committee.
Surya, one of many nice white-ball exponents in home cricket, shall be eager to steer his group from the entrance within the absence of India batsman, Shreyas Iyer.
Young left-arm pacer Arjun Tendulkar, son of legendary Sachin Tendulkar, has been picked for the Mumbai senior group for the primary time and if he performs even one sport for the home giants, he could be eligible for IPL auctions.
While defending champions Karnataka shall be seeking to retain the title, they are going to face stiff competitors from others.
Successful internet hosting of the competitors can pave the way in which for the BCCI to conduct the remaining tournaments of the home calendar.
Groups:
Elite Group A: Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Railways, Tripura (Venue – Bengaluru)Elite Group B: Odisha, Bengal, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Hyderabad (Venue – Kolkata)Elite Group C: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Baroda, Uttarakhand (Venue – Vadodara)Elite Group D: Services, Saurashtra, Vidarbha, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Goa (Venue – Indore)Elite Group E: Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Mumbai, Kerala, Puducherry (Venue – Mumbai)Plate Group: Chandigarh, Meghalaya, Bihar, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh (Venue – Chennai).
