Refresh the set-up!

Indian domestic cricketing set-up is under the scanner for the last week or so to modify it for the better. Prominent ex-international players like Aakash Chopra & Sourav Ganguly are closely associated, directly or indirectly, with this activity. The technical committee of the BCCI has recommended a few changes to the domestic structure after the meet on Friday which mainly includes length of Ranji games, domestic calendar and the points system. There is also the rejection of the thought that domestic games should be held at neutral venues. The recommendations sound good and hold potential to raise the bar but why isn’t there excitement about this topic? Why isn’t the media covering this generously?

In pursuit of answers to these questions lies the sorry state of domestic cricket in India. Why has quality of cricket gone down drastically? Let us start by looking at the numbers for the current season (have chosen only Ranji trophy numbers for the sake of simplicity). 34 of the 56 Ranji games (60.71%) ended in a draw; clearly implying that the tracks aren’t conducive for producing results. Cricket, even at the international level, becomes much more exciting if the track has to offer a fair contest between bat and ball. The batting and bowling numbers underline the above statement; 29 scores between 150 & 200, 15 double hundreds and one triple ton and 67 five-fors. The stats thus far, apart from suggesting lifeless tracks, could propose that either there aren’t too many good bowlers around or the batsmen around the circuit are exceptional. Those following Indian cricket would assert that either of the two views aren’t completely true!

Here lies a problem and the need to search for a solution. Matches at neutral venues can’t be the answer for the way the domestic games are followed in India, neutral games would mean the death for on-field following. Negating home advantage effect isn’t good either for you would want the champion to have battled it out in all possible conditions. A possible solution could be adopting the IPL kind of format: home and away matches with teams divided into smaller groups in the preliminary stage, say 3 groups of 4 teams each. 2 teams could advance to the quarter-finals. This could dilute the effect of home/away advantage. The finalists of the plate league could join the main draw at the quarter-final stage. Cricket venues should have a point system as well; if a match at that venue ends in a result the ground wins 10 points, draw in 4th innings of the game - 7.5 points, in the 3rd innings - 5 and 2.5 otherwise. International games for the succeeding season should be scheduled on the basis of the points for these venues. 

Inspite of 2/3^rd of the matches ending in a draw, the point system allowed teams to be separated into winners and non-winners. The system has been widely criticized, as the first innings lead implying 3 points appears abysmal. For example, this year’s winners - Rajasthan had 5 draws out of 7 games in the group stages. They qualified for the semis on virtue of 1^st innings lead in the quarter-finals, won the semi-final and lifted the Ranji trophy on the same basis of 1^st innings lead in the final. Test cricket and exponents of it at the highest level advocate for this format being the best the game has to offer; primarily as it tests a team over 15 sessions and 2 innings. In this regard, the point system of awarding points and later matches on the virtue of 1^st innings lead is illogical and unreasonable, yet the best possible option. The fall-outs of this methodology have been unfortunate. Teams have started taking this to their advantage and ensuring they go away with 3 points even if they have an opportunity to win it out rightly. An outright win gives the team 5 points not enough incentive against the 3 which they earn by merely ensuring a good batting effort in the 1^st innings.

Aakash Chopra, a member of the Ranji champion side, has advocated for a different point system which includes credits for batting and bowling efforts. The only drawback would be say a flat Chennai track would garner batting points for both sides while a rank turner at Kanpur will do that for bowlers, and the diversity in conditions and tracks would complicate that. Here is a suggestion to compute points: 1^st innings lead should account for only 2 (1) points and an outright win 5 points. Like a win with a huge margin credits a bonus point, a 1^st innings lead of over 200 runs or when the 1st innings (of both sides) is over in 2 days or 6 sessions (whichever is earlier) should credit 3 (1) points, and 2 (1) in all other drawn games. [Numbers in bracket indicate points for opposition team] Knock-outs (quarter-final onwards, if not all) should be atleast 5 day games so that the tricky point system doesn’t ensure qualification or relegation. Semis & finals could be timeless test kind of thing, with outer limit being 6/7 days.

The proposed restructure to the domestic calendar makes sense, except the presence of the Duleep Trophy and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (domestic Twenty20). These two competitions have become redundant and high-time these two are stopped. The plate league too needs a revamp but too many changes at a time could make things complicated and hence the complexity of domestic cricket should be delineated progressively. There is a big gap between domestic cricket and fan following, an issue which needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Better tracks, better contests, more intent to win matches and presence of international Indian players could bring some change. The administrators could also think of allowing one non-Indian player to be a part of the playing XI to broaden the spectrum of people who follow domestic cricket. State associations should be pressurized to build a fan base for the respective sides; the ways and means of executing such a thing could vary. There are lots of things that could be done and a lot of them are being hypothecated at the moment, it is the prerogative of the technical committees of the BCCI to prioritize the problems and rectify them accordingly.