Duleep Trophy starts with a question mark on relevance
The Duleep Trophy cricket tournament faces scrutiny over its relevance and selection processes after the BCCI removed national selectors from the team-picking process. Critics argue the tournament has lost its prestige due to the dominance of the IPL and inconsistent team selection.
Why it matters
The debate reflects broader tensions in professional sports between traditional developmental tournaments and commercialized franchise leagues.
After BCCI dissolves national selectors’ role in picking zonal teams, sanctity of the tournament comes under scannerCHENNAI/NEW DELHI: A few days before the Duleep Trophy got underway at the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru on Sunday, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia announced that the final will be shifted to MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The reason given was that there will be fans who will come to watch the match, which doesn’t happen in the CoE.Chennai is a cricket-crazy centre. But when you ask those who ‘book’ their IPL tickets long before the event, whether they would be interested in attending the Duleep final, the standard query is: “Will Shubman Gill play?”Gill, in this case, stands for all the stars of Indian cricket.
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