BCCI Prepones Domestic T20 Tournaments Ahead Of IPL Auction

The Board of Control for Cricket In India (BCCI) on Thursday, in a statement, said that the two domestic tournaments, the Zonal T20 league and the Syed Mushtaq Ali knockout tournament, will be held ahead of the IPL 2018 auction to ensure that the players a chance to perform and showcase their talent which will be beneficial for the franchises during the player auction to build their name. According to a statement from the national cricket board, the Zonal T20 league will now be held from January 8 to 16 instead of January 21 to 29 while the Syed Mushtaq Ali knockout tournament has been pushed from the February 4-10 window to January 21-27.

"In view of the IPL Player Auction which is scheduled on January 27 and 28, there has been a change of schedule for the domestic tournaments," the BCCI statement read.

"The changes are being done so that the T20 Zonal League and Syed Mushtaq Ali Knock out (except final match) are held before the IPL player Auction which will enable the domestic players to showcase their talent and will also be beneficial for the franchises during the Player Auction to build their teams," it added.

Consequently, the fixtures for the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the domestic 50-over tournament, have also been updated. The group-league phase has been advanced to February 5 to 14 from February 16 to 25. The schedule for the knockout stages will now be played from February 21 to 26 instead of March 3 to 8.

Similarly, the Deodhar Trophy has also been advanced to March 4 to 8 from the earlier scheduled of March 14 to 18.

On the other hand, the Irani Cup, which will feature the Ranji Trophy winner against a Rest of India side, has been postponed from January to March.

(With IANS Inputs)