Sunil Gavaskar has a message for the BCCI: stop treating the Ranji Trophy as an afterthought. The batting great has openly criticised the board for failing to give India’s premier domestic red-ball competition the respect it deserves, accusing them of shuffling its schedule around to make room for other tournaments. His frustration centers on the new structure for this season, which splits the Ranji Trophy into two separate phases with the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy and the T20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy squeezed in between.
The current 2026-27 domestic season kicked off with the Duleep Trophy, which wrapped up on Thursday. Next up is the one-off Irani Trophy match in early October. The Ranji Trophy’s Elite and Plate groups will then play their first phase from October 11 to November 5, after which the T20 and one-day tournaments will take over. The Ranji Trophy’s second phase resumes on January 17, building up to the final in March.
Sunil Gavaskar questioned how a tournament of this stature can simply be paused midway to make space for white-ball cricket, arguing that doing so breaks the rhythm and momentum teams build over the season. He asked why the T20 tournament couldn’t instead be structured the same way as the Ranji Trophy, played up to the quarterfinal stage, followed by a gap, and then the semifinals and final later on. His answer to his own question: this won’t happen because the tournament needs to wrap up in time for the IPL auction.
He suggested an alternative, holding the T20 tournament right at the start of the season in September, since IPL scouts would still track performances regardless of timing. According to him, standout players wouldn’t be overlooked just because the auction takes place a couple of months after their performances.
Sunil Gavaskar wrapped up his criticism by pointing to a deeper structural problem — that decision-making in Indian cricket currently leans too heavily on people without the right experience. He recalled how the BCCI once had dedicated Technical and Fixtures Committees staffed by former players, umpires and administrators who ensured the sport ran smoothly. He believes reviving something similar, built on real cricketing experience and expertise, is necessary to fix what he sees as an imbalance in how the game is currently being run in India.
Do you agree with Sunil Gavaskar?
