Sourav Ganguly, President of the BCCI, stated that organising a domestic Day and Night warm-up match for the women's cricket team in the rainy month of August in India ahead of their first Pink Ball Test against Australia in Perth in September would be difficult.
Shantha Rangaswamy, a BCCI Apex Council member, had requested the BCCI to organise domestic pink-ball games to help the women's team prepare for the day-night Test against Australia in Perth, which begins on September 30th, but Ganguly said it would be difficult to organise due to the monsoon, which is at its peak engulfing the entire country in the month of August.
“Domestic matches are difficult to organise in August because of rain,” quoted Ganguly who was also celebrating his 49th birthday.
Concerning the Indian opener (for the men's team) in England, the former India captain stated that it was up to the selectors whether to send additional players as backup for the tour.
“That is the selectors’ call,” stated Ganguly.
According to Ganguly, despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, cricket has managed to stage a comeback, albeit behind closed doors, with a number of marquee series and tournaments planned for the coming months.
“Nothing can be done with this Covid-19 situation, so it is closed doors only. Cricket has obviously started, India is in England, then we will have IPL and then there is T20 World Cup. Cricket won’t stop and it will go on.”
He went on to say that these were unprecedented times and that he hoped the World T20, which had been relocated to the UAE, would go off without too many problems and setbacks.
“These are exceptional circumstances. Last year the World T20 got cancelled. This year if again it gets cancelled because of Covid, then it is a massive loss for the game. That is why it is being taken to a safer place,” he added.
