BCCI forced to restore Duleep Trophy in 2017-18 calendar

Less than a week after scrapping Duleep Trophy off the 2017-18 domestic calendar, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was forced to change their decision and restore the tournament, which normally serves as the season-opener.

The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) had on Tuesday asked the BCCI to revise its decision of striking off the Duleep Trophy as it was an 'important' competition.

"We were told that Duleep Trophy was not in the [domestic] schedule, but we thought it is an important engagement and should not be dropped so we have asked them to restore it. And, it has been restored," ESPNcricinfo quoted CoA chairman Vinod Rai as saying.

According to a BCCI official, the CoA had earlier asked the BCCI technical committee, led by former India skipper Sourav Ganguly, to reveal the details as to why the tournament was originally scrapped.

However, Rai refused that the CoA had sought anything from the technical committee of the country's cricket governing body.

Earlier, the Duleep Trophy was postponed to the beginning of the next season in the wake of tight international calendar which will see India hosting 23 limited-overs matches from September to December.

Last year's Duleep Trophy featured three teams namely India Red, India Blue and India Green, playing with the pink ball under lights.

As India are slated to play limited-overs series against Australia on September 17, the window for the Duleep Trophy is expected to be smaller than last year.