Zone-based Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on cards

In a move to grow interest in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the BCCI is set to act on a proposal to convert India's domestic T20 championship to an inter-zonal competition.

The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is currently an inter-state tournament wherein the top two teams from four groups progress to to the second round, where sides are divided into two groups. The winners of their respective groups make the final.

The revised structure would have the state teams divided zonally, and the best performers from a zone make up the zonal team to contest against other such sides. In addition to the five main zones - North, South, East, West and Central - a sixth team, comprising the best young players from all zones, will be selected to participate.

BCCI president Anurag Thakur confirmed the development. "We discussed the issue at length during our fixtures committee Meeting. The endeavour is to make domestic cricket more engaging and viable," Thakur told PTI. "With 1882 playing days, the BCCI has shown how serious we are about our domestic structure.

"We have decided to have Ranji Trophy at neutral venue, Duleep Trophy with pink ball and now we are trying to make Mushtaq Ali more competitive by bringing in a zonal structure. The aim is to improve the quality of domestic cricket. We are trying to finalise details and senior officials will be putting a process in place."

The BCCI tours and fixtures committee had also previously recommended playing day-night games with the pink ball in the Duleep Trophy, the zonal first-class tournament, and playing at neutral venues in the Ranji Trophy, the country's premier first-class competition.