The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has setup a ‘task force’ for the development of cricket in the north-eastern region.
Notably, the north-eastern states are set to feature in the Ranji Trophy and subsequent domestic competitions from next season onwards.
The BCCI officials, it is learnt had a meeting on the issue where it has been decided that as the north-eastern states are playing in all the domestic tournaments, the respective cricket playing states are asked to identify their available resources in terms of infrastructure.
The BCCI is also going to provide support in terms of gournds as most of the states have just one ground.
This will prove to be a hurdle for practice sessions of various age groups and also for holding selection trials.
Looking into all these modalities, the BCCI has formed a task force to develop cricket in the Northeast.
The task force will have BCCI general manager (cricket operations), Saba Karim; former BCCI game development manager Ratnakar Shetty; AGM (cricket operations) KVP Rao; Ashish Bhowmik, who is the Northeast (chief) curator and former Bengal player Saradindu Mukherjee.
For the upcoming domestic season, one team among Bihar and the north-eastern sides, some of whom will be having their maiden campaign, will be provided with a slot in the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals.
The Board has grouped together the bottom nine teams, including Bihar and the north-eastern states sides, in the Plate Group.
In addition to qualifying for the Ranji quarter-finals the top team from this group will also be promoted to Elite Group C next year.
The inclusion of Bihar and the north-eastern states will take the total number of participants in this year’s Ranji Trophy to 37.