BCCI Apex Council’s meeting: Prize money increase, Introduction of DRS in the Ranji Trophy among key decisions

The BCCI’s Apex Council held a meeting on Thursday in Mumbai wherein a whole lot of key decisions were made. This included the increasing of the prize money for the winners of various domestic competitions. The meeting was chaired by Sourav Ganguly, President of the BCCI and was also attended by Jay Shah, General Secretary and Arun Dhumal, who is the current treasurer. 

These decisions are being made by the board in the wake of the whopping sale of the media rights of the lucrative Indian Premier League that took place a few months ago. The rights were sold for a jaw-dropping sum of Rs. 48,390 crores. 

Prize money for Ranji Trophy winners increased, Deodhar Trophy dropped from the calendar

Some of the major decisions undertaken at the BCCI’s Apex Council’s meeting on Thursday in Mumbai were the increasing the prize money of the Ranji Trophy winners to Rs.2 crores and dropping Deodhar Trophy from the domestic cricketing calendar. 

“We couldn’t find space with so many matches to be played during the domestic season which is scheduled to start from September this year," the daily quoted a BCCI official as saying. 

A report in the Indian Express said that the packed domestic cricketing season was the reason behind the shelving of the tournament. 

Regarding the increase in the prize money for the winners, “The Apex Council has decided to give powers to office bearers to decide on the revised prize money," a BCCI official was quoted saying.

DRS to be introduced in Ranji Trophy while Elite group to be brought back

The highest level of domestic cricket in India will be bolstered by the introduction of the Decision Referral System (DRS) after the umpiring in the recently concluded Ranji Trophy received a lot of flak for numerous dubious decisions.

“The BCCI has agreed in principle to have the DRS system in place for next season. If everything goes smoothly, the BCCI will have a DRS system for all live games," a BCCI official said.

Meanwhile, BCCI is also set to reintroduce the concept of Elite Group and Plate Group in the Ranji Trophy. The red-ball tournament, reported to start from December will see the thirty-eight teams being divided into four Elite Groups of eight teams each while the rest will be placed in the Plate Group. 

BCCI is planning a full domestic season starting with the Duleep Trophy in September. A women’s U-16 category will also be introduced from the next season.