Bengal and Karnataka matches not to be telecast

Bengal, last year's Ranji Trophy runners-up, might start the Indian domestic season as one of the favourites but none of their league matches will be telecast.

Two teams - Bengal and Karnataka - were conspicuously absent in the schedule that the Indian board unveiled in Mumbai yesterday, announcing 70 days of live telecast of domestic games. According to the board "logistical" issues demanded that two teams would always miss out but a number of people have felt there was a political angle to the whole issue.

It's no secret that cricket associations from Bengal and Karnataka have traditionally opposed the Sharad Pawar lobby. The fact that the announcement was made just two days before the board's Annual General Body meeting also gives an impression that it was an exercise to garner a few vital votes.

Though Niranjan Shah, the secretary of the board, wasn't aware of the "exact" reason, he insisted that there weren't any political intentions. "We've discussed it with Nimbus and maybe they had some logistical problems," he told Cricinfo. "Maybe there was not much time for the television crew to be moved to those venues etc. This is just the plan for the first year and there is still a chance of making changes to this also. So let's see what can be done."

However, that explanation is not holding too much water. Goutam Dasgupta, the Cricket Association of Bengal's representative at the board's annual general body meeting, has already said it's "not cricket" while Brijesh Patel, the secretary of the Karnataka Cricket Association, simply said, "Ask those in the board. They must know the reason for this."

Considering that they were part of the Plate division last season, it is highly unlikely that Saurashtra and Rajasthan - respectively, the home associations of Shah and Lalit Modi, the board's vice-president, and whose matches will be telecast live - will match the quality of cricket expected from Karnataka and Bengal.

The board has also struck out two world-class venues - Eden Gardens and Chinnaswamy Stadium - in their television schedule for the season.