Steel city not to hold Ranji Trophy matches

Jamshedpur:

The steel city known as the 'Sports Capital' of Jharkhand would be for the first time not holding a Ranji Trophy match due to non availability of Keenan stadium.

Ranchi and Dhanbad will host the Ranji Trophy matches which the hosts will play in the state against Tripura (November 3-6), Vidarbha (November 10-13), Goa (December 1-4) and Rajasthan (December 8-11), said Rajesh Verma, secretary of Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) said here on Friday.

Verma said "a couple of months ago we (JSCA) had sent letters to the Sports department of Tata Steel asking them for the Keenan stadium, which is being maintained by the private steel major, to host the Ranji matches this season but they expressed inability to do so as the Keenan has been booked for the forthcoming National Games scheduled to be held from November 21 to December 5".

"So we had to change the venue of the Ranji trophy matches to Ranchi and Dhanbad," he said adding that "probably, it was the first time in the history of state cricket that we will not be hosting a Ranji match in the steel city."

Meanwhile, a 30-member Ranji probables including Tejaswi Yadav, son of the RJD chief Lalu Prasad are undergoing a fortnight-long conditioning camp for selection of state Ranji team for the season.