Domestic panel in the dark over role

More than six weeks after being formally appointed, members of the BCCI’s working group for domestic cricket are still in the dark about the nature of their role.

When the BCCI formed the seven-member working group on July 11, the members had assumed that they would be involved in devising a compensation package for the 2020-21 domestic season, which was curtailed because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

But the group has neither been involved in revising the domestic calendar for the forthcoming season nor consulted about the compensation package.

“Let alone being called for a meeting, none of us even knows what our mandate actually is,” a working group member told The Hindu, on condition of anonymity.

The appointment was in line with a press release issued by the BCCI on June 20 after the apex council meeting. “The Apex Council has decided to form a committee to look into the issue of compensation for Indian domestic cricketers for domestic season 2020-21.

“The Apex Council has mandated the Office Bearers of BCCI to form the committee and find a suitable compensatory mechanism for domestic cricketers, at the earliest possible,” said the statement.

However, when the letter announcing the appointment of the group was circulated among the BCCI affiliates, there was no mention of the compensation package.

“We had hoped that we would be called for a meeting soon and the compensation bit, although not officially announced, would be discussed on the floor of the house.

Surprising

“In fact, it was kind of surprising for most of us when the BCCI revised the domestic calendar recently without keeping any of us in the loop,” said another working group member.

The group includes Rohan Jaitley (North), Yudhvir Singh (Central), Jaydev Shah (West), Devajit Saikia (North-East), Avishek Dalmiya (East) and Santhosh Menon and Mohammad Azharuddin (South).