Ranji Trophy 2023–24: Fog impacts matches in the north, and BCCI’s bad scheduling destroys opening day

On Friday, January 5, 16 matches in various Indian states kicked off the country’s main first-class championship, the Ranji Trophy 2024. Unfortunately, because of unfavorable weather, the tournament’s first day didn’t exactly go well for the teams from the northern parts of the nation.

Because of the poor visibility brought on by fog and haze, there was a noticeable decrease in the number of overs in Delhi, Lahli, Jammu, and Chandigarh. Due to delays brought on by unfavorable weather, the four locations could only see 118 overs of play altogether out of the 360 overs scheduled.

Chandigarh was bowled out for 96 against Railways, who concluded the day with a total of 54.3 overs on 73/0. Delhi, on the other hand, could only bat for 19 overs against Puducherry and finished on 40/4 after the game started two hours late.

Jammu was dismissed for just 100 runs by Himachal Pradesh, who ended the day with 47/0 after 44.3 overs of play in the far north of the nation. During the match between Rajasthan and Haryana at Lahli, not a single ball was delivered. All four clubs must feel cheated that they were unable to take advantage of home field advantages in the early going of the season, especially considering how poorly they started the season.

Even though the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) is aware of the foggy weather in the north, they have inexplicably scheduled Ranji Trophy matches there at a time when the competition is having difficulty remaining relevant.

DDCA intends to reschedule their upcoming home match.

The Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) has been considering rescheduling their upcoming home match, which is scheduled to begin on January 26, in order to avoid conflict with the Republic Day parade. Thus, all these elements underscore the BCCI’s shoddy tournament scheduling, which severely disadvantages the impacted teams from the outset.