Sunil Gavaskar Slams BCCI For Mistreating Ranji Trophy: 'How Can It Be Interrupted?'

Sunil Gavaskar has taken aim at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for not treating the Ranji Trophy as the crown jewel of Indian cricket, and its ‘pride’, by ‘pushing it around here and there’. The batting legend expressed his anguish at the new format for the red-ball tournament, where it’s conducted in two phases with the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT) and the T20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) in between.

The ongoing 2026-27 domestic season was kicked off by the Duleep Trophy, which concluded on Thursday. The one-off Irani Trophy match will be next in the first week of October. The first phase of the Ranji Trophy Elite and Plate competitions will be played between October 11 and November 5, followed by SMAT and the VHT, and then

the second phase will begin on January 17, ending with the final in March.

“How can a tournament be interrupted to accommodate a white-ball tournament?” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.  “…The rhythm and momentum get destroyed. Why is the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy not played till the quarterfinal, then a break for a few weeks, and then the semifinals and final, as it happens with the Ranji Trophy? It won’t be done because the auction for the IPL happens pretty soon after the tournament,” he said.

Gavaskar said the SMAT could happen at the start of the season in September instead because IPL scouts will follow it anyway.

“They won’t forget the performers even if the auction happens a couple of months later,” he said.

Gavaskar concluded by saying that the ecosystem was ‘slightly skewed’ towards non-experts, which is causing these issues.

“In the old BCCI, there used to be a Technical Committee and a Fixtures Committee too,” he said. “Experienced former players, umpires and administrators served on these committees, ensuring that cricket went smoothly. Something similar needs to be done, drawing on such experience and expertise. The Indian cricket ecosystem is slightly skewed at the moment, and this would help rebalance it.”