MCA approves holding league matches on district HQ grounds

Pune, Apr 1 (UNI) With the non-availability of grounds in the city, the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) managing committee has approved to hold the premier invitation league matches for this year at five district headquarter grounds.

Earlier, the captains of the top 16 clubs of Pune, in a memorandum to the MCA, had rejected the option of playing the premier league matches away from home, citing many reasons, including the prevailing hot and humid weather conditions.

Usually, the league matches are played between July and September during the monsoon season and these form the basis of selection for representation in the State team and in the national championships.

Setting aside the memorandum of the captains, MCA president Ajay Shirke told mediapersons here that the new format has been envisaged so that the players could give out their best.

Explaining the format, he said a total of 21 teams (unlike 12 teams in the past) will participate in the senior and the junior league matches, to be played simultaneously. The senior league gets underway from April eight, while the junior league commences from April 12. There are 14 teams from the last year's league and two new qualifiers and five teams from the zones (the 21 districts affiliated to MCA have been divided in five zones).

They will be divided in three pools of seven teams each. The top team in each pool will play the super league, to determine the champion. The two teams finishing at the bottom of the league will be relegated next year.

''There will certainly be resistance to the change. But according to me this was the only way to progress and make the headway,'' High Performnace team coach Chandrakant Pandit said.

He said as per the past performance, the players take time to adapt to new conditions. The change will give them a chance to play not only oustide the home conditions, but will also help them adapt to different pitches and make them tougher mentally. Also, the players will ''knit well'' when they travel outstation, Pandit added.

The league matches are likely to be held at Nashik, Karad, Sangli and Kolhapur.

Besides, the MCA has also decided to set up atleast 10 grounds of its own, the first of which will come up in Latur, Shirke said.

UNI