Ranji Trophy postponement is a huge disappointment, says Jaydev Unadkat
Jaydev Unadkat has said that the Ranji Trophy getting postponed for a second consecutive year due to the Covid-19 is a huge disappointment for the players. The Saurashtra captain further added that the two-year gap in red-ball format will hamper the skills of the domestic cricketers.
Ranji Trophy 2022 was originally scheduled to begin on January 13, however, due to the surge in Covid-19 cases all over the country, the BCCI decided to postpone the domestic tournament. This was the second successive year, where Covid-19 has affected the scheduling of the tournament. The previous season of the tournament was cancelled due to the pandemic and this year it has been postponed.
Meanwhile, Saurashtra captain Jaydev Unadkat expressed his disappointment over the cancellation of the Ranji trophy season for the second year in a row, saying that it will be a great loss for the domestic cricketers.
"Two years in a row would be a great loss. One year itself was a great loss. When we started our pre-season camp before the eventual postponement, it felt like a whole new game," Unadkat said to PTI.
"Leaving the ball, bowling with pace and bowling long spells. All that had gone out of the picture. It is going to be difficult for sure if it doesn't happen this year too.”
"I hear that BCCI is keen on staging it. If the virus situation doesn't become threatening, we can have it in February with a stricter bubble and more vigilance.”
The cricketers playing domestic tournaments have been away from red-ball cricket for a long time. Undakat recalled the experience at training camp saying that such a long gap might hamper the skills of the cricketers.
"For batters, even when I was batting, I left the first ball alone it felt very different to be honest. I had not left a ball in two years of my batting practice. Probably the same for all batters barring the openers who were doing it even in one-dayers,” he explained.
"For the bowlers, bowling that full length and trying to swing the ball but people were trying different things and were bowling a few balls. It was bound to happen with such a long gap. It will hamper the skills of cricketers for sure if there is a two-year gap.”
Unadkat admitted that hosting a 38-team event was challenging under the current circumstances. However, the Saurashtra captain is hopeful that the players will get to play at least half of the season. Unadkat also said that the state association can take the initiative to compensate the player for the losses they suffered due to cancellation of the last season.
"It is disappointing but I feel this was bound to happen considering the COVID situation and the right decision taken was taken. Hopefully, things get better and we can play at least half of it or the league stage before the IPL," he stated.
"See the maximum that BCCI can do is compensate players like last year but that is only for the guys who played the year before. The guys who were not part of that squad and are on the fringes are more difficult for them.”
"Maybe the state associations can take the initiative. Whosoever was on the brink of selection, for example, if top 20 are being compensated by the BCCI, the next 20 too have to be taken care of."
The left-arm fast bowler bagged a staggering 67 wickets in the 2019-2020 season which is the highest ever by a fast bowler in the history of the Ranji trophy. Despite having given brilliant performances with the red ball, Jaydev Unadkat has not been able to get himself in the Indian Test team due to stiff competition.
"Obviously losing out a year after having the best phase of my career in red-ball cricket was unfortunate. I would still be at the same level of motivation when the season starts" he concluded.
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