2,000 domestic matches to play, not enough umpires: BCCI out hit wicket

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has found itself in an embarrassing situation yet again. BCCI announced an exhaustive 2018-19 domestic schedule, with more than 2,000 matches to be played across the nation. While the schedule is exciting for any aspiring cricketer, the problem with it is in the logistics. 

As soon as the season kicked off, BCCI realised it has bitten more than it can chew. Three sets of fixtures of the very crucial Cooch Behar Trophy have been postponed to late January. The reason: lack of umpires to officiate the matches. This has raised further questions on how the Cricket board's affairs are being managed by the Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), led by former CAG, Vinod Rai.

Saba Karim, the former Indian cricketer, and the BCCI’s general manager, cricket operations, sent a note on Wednesday to all state associations informing about the postponement of the schedule. The Cooch Behar Trophy third-round matches, scheduled to be played between 17 and 20 December, have been pushed back to 21-24 January. The start of the Cooch Behar knockouts was moved from 29 January to 18 February; the senior women’s one-day knockout matches will now be played from 26 to 31 December instead of the 24th to 29th, reported The Print. In the letter, Saba Karim asked the state boards to arrange for the logistics accordingly. 

Earlier, former Indian Captain Sourav Ganguly lashed out the Committee of Administrators (CoA) for mismanaging the sexual harassment case against CEO Rahul Johri. Ganguly said that the CoA members have come down from four to two and both the members are divided on how to proceed with the allegations against Johri. 

He raised another issue — changing the rules of eligibility to play for a state. He said, "Cricketing rules are changed in the middle of a season, which has never been heard off…decisions made in committees are turned around with complete disrespect,” 

He took the opportunity to highlight his bad experience with coach selection process. He wrote, “My experience in the matter of coach selection was appalling (the less said the better)…One of my friends who is involved in matters relating to the functioning of board asked me who should they go to…had no answer…I had to ask who should I invite for an international game from a particular association as I did not know what was going on.”