First-class cricket, day-night test to be in focus under Sourav Ganguly as BCCI chief

The domestic tournaments like Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy needs a facelift in terms of the playing conditions and remunerations

Indian cricket fans are delighted as fan-favorite “Dada” is all set to make a comeback for the second innings of his cricketing career. Sourav Ganguly seems to be the apt choice to take over the Presidential seat at BCCI next week and he will surely pursue this position with the same passion as he used to serve the Indian Cricket team. It’s been almost five years that Ganguly is a part of the administration set up and thus he knows all the intricacies of how things work in BCCI. It also came to light that Ganguly was the only person to file the nomination to head the national governing body for cricket.

The moment this news was out in public, Twitter erupted with fans pouring their wishes to Dada for his new journey. It was not just fans, but Ganguly’s fellow mates, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, and Akash Chopra also congratulated him on Twitter.

The chief of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators that had been engaged in the process of running the Indian cricket from the last 33 months also willingly expressed his approval in Ganguly being the BCCI President. The Supreme Court-appointed committee was basically given the responsibility to create the reformed structure for the cricket in India because of the betting scandal that came in the spotlight four years back with very unpleasant conflicts of interests among the sports administrators. And then Rai’s committee took over.

What will change with Sourav Ganguly?

Experts, sportspersons and fans have long been recommending that former cricketers should have a more active role in the functioning of the cricketing body. Because honestly, there’s no one other than these cricketers who can be the perfect fit for the president of the BCCI.

While many argue that cricketers should focus on the game and should not interfere in the politics and administration process of the sport. But it is fair to say that if the players can play the sport then why shouldn't they have a say in the functioning of the sport at national and international levels.

Though the position is just for nine months, the former Indian captain is looking out for a big canvas to paint with bright colors in order to secure the future of the Indian cricket. Things are surely going to change from October 22 once Ganguly takes over the charge officially.

First Class Cricket

First and foremost, it is really important right now to increase the status of first-class cricket in India. The domestic tournaments like Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy needs a facelift in terms of the playing conditions and remunerations to the players. The conditions in which these players are playing right now are completely below par and needs a makeover as these domestic players will eventually try out to get included in the Indian team. But if the conditions are not proper, they will never be able to play well in international cricket.

In fact, Sourav Ganguly is one of those persons who has always supported the improvement of the first-class cricket and now he will be the one to take this initiative and put this issue upfront once he takes the charge.

Green signal to Day-Night Test

Even though the Indian skipper Virat Kohli and the coach Ravi Shastri are not in favor of playing day-night test cricket especially during the ongoing World Test Championships, the new president is keen on bringing in day-night test in the WTC in order to promote test cricket and prepare players to play in all the possible conditions.

According to him, the way forward to cricket is the day-night test and every country must play it as it is the long-term future of Test cricket. Since India is a world-class test team right now and is going unbeaten in the ongoing WTC, Ganguly is confident that the team will be able to play the day-night test just as the day test.

Having said all of this change that the Indian cricket fans are expecting, there’s a big “but” to it. Apparently all the sons of veteran administrators are going to take over some or the other cricket associations, which means that these veterans are going to be connected to BCCI. Thus, in this case, how much the situation is going to alter in a positive manner when the political hands are still going to be there? Though everyone has a lot of expectations from Ganguly, but the question remains if these people will allow him to bring the change that is for the good of cricket.