Another season of India’s elite First-Class tournament, the Ranji Trophy, began yesterday (December 09). The newly formed Chandigarh cricket association made its Ranji Trophy debut against Arunachal Pradesh at the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium. But there were complaints that some of the officials of the Union Territory Cricket Association weren’t aware of the newly formed rules and regulations, among which is refraining from visiting or sitting in the dugout during the game.
In the morning session, Yograj Singh, father of former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, was seen seated at the dugout of the Chandigarh team, something that is not allowed as per the BCCI rules. As per the rules, only BCCI officials are allowed access to players in the dugout or dressing room during the course of the play. Harish Sharma, BCCI’s anti-corruption officer had to request Yograj, a former cricketer himself, to vacate his dugout seat.
Among other loopholes in the game, the players had no chair to themselves for having lunch. Both Chandigarh and Arunachal players had to sit on the ground with food plate on their lap due to no availability of chairs for them in the dining room. The match referee, Col Chinmaya Sharma, was left fuming at the situation and was seen having a word with the UTCA officials.
“We are a very new association. We are only going to learn from our mistakes and I can guarantee you that such incidents will not happen in the future,” a UTCA official told the Times of India.
Chandigarh impressed on their first-class debut, with 28-year-old pacer Shreshth Nirmohi taking a five-wicket haul against Arunachal Pradesh, followed by 20-year-old Mohammed Arslan Khan and Shivam Bhambri scoring a century respectively.
“Now that the wait is over, the city is back on the Indian cricket map. Now we need to consolidate like structuring the U-14, U-16 and U-19 programmes. Being the capital city, Chandigarh sees a lot of diversity with people from five to six states settling here. This is one of the reasons we get diverse players,” Yograj wrote in his column for the Indian Express.
