Off-field controversies, uncertainty cloud Ranji Trophy build-up

The 2016-17 season of the Ranji Trophy will begin on October 6 in uncertain times for the BCCI, which has been put in the dock after its failure to implement several key Lodha Committee orders.

While this may not directly affect the 28 teams and 700-odd players involved in this season, it is impossible to zone out the events that have caused the board much embarrassment this year. Add to that the teams' concerns of playing the tournament at neutral venues, a move adopted after a recommendation by the technical committee led by former India captain Sourav Ganguly.

Chaos has been a constant in the build-up to the season. The board announced the Ranji Trophy schedule on September 2, a little more than a month before its start. There was a push to play the tournament with the pink ball and BCCI president Anurag Thakur even confirmed the move on September 10 although the board had shelved its plans for a day-night Test this season. Several sides then confirmed that they hadn't received the pink ball for training, which forced the board to continue with the existing SG Red ball.

To add to this, logistical nightmares sprang up, not entirely of the board's making, with several sides being allotted new venues for their opening games. Political tensions along the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border because of a water dispute forced Karnataka's opening match against Jharkhand, in round two of the tournament, to be moved out of Chennai to Greater Noida. Tamil Nadu's clash in Belgaum in December may also be shifted out. The first-round match between Saurashtra-Rajasthan in Chennai was shifted out of the state because of "unforeseen issues". It is in this scenario that the ten teams in Group C and nine each in Groups A and B will battle to be domestic champions.

A few coaches had also suggested that the system of home and away matches could continue without a toss being held, in which case a visiting captain could choose to bat or bowl in away games.

The 17 curators in charge of preparing surfaces across the country - up from 10 used last year - will have a tough job of trying to find the "middle path." Several curators admitted they were hesitant to prepare either a green surface or a turner for the fear that matches would not last four days. The only difference this season, though, is that with neutral venues teams will not have a distinct home advantage, compared to the previous two seasons when associations were guilty of producing surfaces with varying degrees of dryness and grass cover to suit their needs.

Twenty-eight matches finished within three days in 2015-16 compared to 20 in 2014-15. The number of outright wins, too, increased from 56 in 2014-15 to 63 in 2015-16 with the same number of matches played in both seasons (115). While result-oriented games are not a bad thing, there has been a sense that the tailored pitches added an artificial competitive edge to India's premier domestic competition.

"It's a little different at the international level, though, since you are looking for wickets and to win matches," former India captain Rahul Dravid said last year, after Odisha were bundled out for 37 against Bengal on what players later described was a "paddy field". "At the Ranji Trophy level, we are looking to prepare the players for the international stage. What I have seen recently, these wickets are poor. I really don't think it's good for Indian cricket because if you think about them it's a waste of time, energy and money. The reason for the Ranji Trophy is not only to decide the winner in the end. It also has a job to develop and prepare cricketers for the international stage. And if we keep playing on bad wickets like these, we are not going to develop and produce good cricketers."

That said, surfaces in different parts of the country have specific characteristics. It is a given teams will encounter swing in Lahli, spin in Chennai and bounce, to an extent, in Mohali. The problematic bit is when sides try to go out of the norm and tailor tracks according to their needs. Last season, Saurashtra prepared dustbowls to suit their spin-bowling strength, and Ravindra Jadeja picked up a mind-boggling 37 wickets in the first three games.

The weather poses another challenge for curators. With winter slowly setting in in early November, lack of sunshine and fog could hinder curators in the northern part of the country, like previous seasons. With conditions suiting the fast bowlers, spinners have been largely redundant. Sample this: Murali Kartik, the former India left-arm spinner, equated pitches in north India to the grass courts at Wimbledon. He bowled all of 71 overs in seven games in his final Ranji Trophy season, in 2013-14; ten of those were seam-up.

It raises the question of whether there is a case to be made for docking points from teams for under-prepared surfaces, instead of adopting neutral venues. A few coaches have also suggested that the system of home and away matches could continue without a toss being non-mandatory, in which case a visiting captain could choose to bat or bowl. This was trialled during the recent English county season.

Moving away from surfaces to teams, the usual suspects - Mumbai, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu [under new coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar] and Delhi - look strong favourites once again, while Uttar Pradesh and Punjab will be the dark horses. Chhattisgarh's addition as the 28th side will add some mystery for sides in Group C. The new entrants have proved competitive in their two preparatory tournaments - they finished runners-up at the Buchi Babu Invitational tournament in Chennai and won the Bapuna Cup organised by the Vidarbha Cricket Association in Nagpur. Chhattisgarh will be eager to take that form into their maiden first-class season, after a decade-and-a-half long battle for recognition.

With India set to host England, Bangladesh and Australia after the New Zealand series, players on the fringes of the national side will have the added incentive of trying to catch the selectors' eye in the immediate future, should replacements be sought at different stages. What better way to serve notice than by performing at venues far different from the ones they've grown up on?