University team revival in BCCI court

University team revival in BCCI court
S Santhanam

NEW DELHI, DEC 17: The urgency for the revival of combined university cricket teams had never been felt so much as at present with a dearth of talent at the college level in the country and a total neglect of university cricket.

The Vizzy Trophy committee whch met here today under chairmanship of Jyoti Bajpai (joint convenor), joint secretary, BCCI, and attended among others by representatives of the Association of Indian Universities, discussed at length the revival of combined universities team concept ``to help the BCCI find the right talent and supplement their efforts in making a second and even third string of players.''

Members were hopeful that the BCCI would decide on the issue at the earliest. The BCCI working committee is expected to take up the issue this weekend at Chennai.

There was a time, in the 1960's and '70's when universities contributed a major share of several state teams. Ranji teams of several states, including Bombay, Delhi, Madras and Karnataka were the major beneficieries ofvarsity cricket. A good performance at university level almost ensured a place in state teams. Ajit Wadekar, Bishan Bedi, B S Chandrasekhar, EAS Prasanna, S Venkataraghavan, Sunil Gavaskar, Madan Lal, Syed Kirmani, Eknath Solkar, Mohinder Amarnath, etc came into national limelight through their consistent performances at school and college tournaments.

Things are different today with hardly any attention being paid to varsity cricket. There was a time (again in 1960's and '70's) when a St Stephen's vs Hindu College cricket match in the Capital used to attract more spectators than a Test match did at the Fereozeshah Kotla. Sadly today, inter-college cricket has been reduced to a farce. From the era of five-day or sometimes `until a result is obtained' games, Delhi University's matches have been reduced to one-day affairs. The Rohinton Baria Trophy, symbol of supremacy among Indian universities, has in recent years lost its original charm and importance. Prominent former India cricketers, including SunilGavaskar, Bishan Bedi and Madan Lal have from time to time emphasised the need to give university cricket a proper direction and importance.

Meanwhile, the Vizzy Trophy committee appointed Vineet Kumar and S S Sareen (representing universities) as selectors for the tournament to be held at the Osmania University grounds in Hyderabad from February 2 to 9.