Changes in Domestic Cricket Structure Suggested

Former India opener Aakash Chopra believes that "meaningless" tournaments like Duleep and Deodhar trophies should be done away with to improve the domestic cricket structure of the country. Chopra, who is a key member of Ranji Trophy champions Rajasthan, also advocated the need to introduce points for batting and bowling as is the case in England, in place of teams getting three points for securing a first-innings lead in drawn games.

"The domestic calendar needs to be reworked...do away with meaningless tournaments so as to make it less crowded. A couple of tournaments may have to be done away with like Duleep, Deodhar and Syed Mushtaq Ali trophies. They all are not serving any purpose."

"These three tournaments can actually make way for Ranji Trophy to become a slightly longer tournament, Vijay Hazare one-day tournament to become slightly longer. We already have a Twenty20 tournament, IPL, then why (do) we need two domestic T20 tournaments," Chopra told PTI. "The first-innings lead points lead to mediocrity. We need to do away with that. It should not have a huge impact towards the end of the season."

Chopra, who was asked by the BCCI's technical committee chaired by former India captain Sourav Ganguly to send in his suggestions and recommendations to improve the domestic structure, also said that the quality of pitches and playing Ranji Trophy league matches at neutral venues should be considered seriously.

"Though I am not a huge fan of this but I know from where the BCCI is coming. The BCCI has entrusted the state associations to come up with sporting wickets but that hasn't happened. It's the state associations who have not taken the responsibility of producing good surfaces," said the veteran domestic cricketer.