Irfan Pathan lauds Sourav Ganguly for NOT going ahead with Ranji Trophy in 2021 season

The first tournament of India's domestic cricket season concluded recently with Tamil Nadu going onto win the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy by beating Baroda in the final. While there were doubts about whether the Ranji Trophy 2021 season will be getting underway anytime soon, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Saturday, announced that it would organise the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021, the Senior women's one-dayers, and the Vinoo Mankad Trophy - U19 limited-overs tournament, which put to rest all talks about conducting the Ranji Trophy. Now, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has come out in support of the decision taken by the Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI.

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Irfan Pathan speaks on not having Ranji Trophy season

This will be the first time in 84 years that the Indian domestic season will not have its Ranji Trophy tournament and the former cricketer feels that it is logistically difficult to hold the tournament which is played amongst as many as 38 teams. Pathan took to Twitter and showed his support towards Sourav Ganguly and BCCI with a message. Here's Pathan's tweet -

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BCCI Secretary Jay Shah, in his letter to all state associations, accessed by ANI, informed them that the decision was taken with an eye on the coronavirus pandemic and the feedback of the state bodies. The dates and schedule for the aforementioned tournaments are yet to be finalised. Earlier the BCCI had asked the state associations to give their suggestions on the domestic calendar after the majority of the season was delayed because of the pandemic. The pandemic also led to the IPL 2020 being shifted to the UAE, with the four-match Women's T20 Challenge held alongside the playoffs of the men's event. The recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy was also played across seven centres since January 10.

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IPL 2021: IPL auction date announced

Apart from the domestic tournament, the IPL auction is all set to take place on February 18 in Chennai after the first two India vs England Test matches. The date of IPL 2021 auction was confirmed on the Indian Premier League's Twitter handle. Ahead of the auction, all the franchises submitted their list of retained and released players, with most of the team retaining their core players, as they look to further strengthen their squads by adding fresh faces from the auction.

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Image: Irfan Pathan / Sourav Ganguly / Twitter