CHENNAI: BCCI will be taking care of all expenses sans professional players’ salaries of the six Northeast teams that will enter the domestic fold this season.
The Northeast Task Force, headed by Naba Bhattacharjee, met BCCI officials in Mumbai on Wednesday. There was a sense of satisfaction from the Northeast representatives as the board also agreed to provide them even with support staff.
BCCI had last month included Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, as per the Lodha panel guidelines. The Northeast representatives, though, were unsure about how their integration into the premier domestic tournament would unfold, as they were battling issues like lack of infrastructure, coaching personnel, fund crunch and venues.
With very little time left for the domestic season to begin, it is understood that the Northeast representatives had apprised BCCI about the challenges that lay ahead of them. Not only did they have to put a team together, but they were also faced with a race against time to get be match-ready before Vijay Hazare Trophy on September 19. As reported by Express, the six states — which had last received funding worth Rs 50 lakh from BCCI in 2013 — are struggling to make their ends meet.
With these problems being common among all the six states, BCCI has told them that it will provide them with National Cricket Academy-accredited coaches, trainers and physiotherapists for all age-group teams. “BCCI was very understanding about the issues we are facing. They have agreed to take care of all expenses, logistics and players’ salaries. We have been asked for an estimated budget, following which the board will make appointments and pay them directly,” Bhattacharjee told Express.
Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, who expressed their inability to host home matches, will be provided with an alternate venue of choice. “Except those two, the rest of have enough facilities to host first-class matches.
Obviously, they have to be upgraded. But because of monsoon, there are some practical difficulties,” Bhattacharjee added. With the prevailing monsoon hampering training sessions, the task force has also requested BCCI for using its facilities in Karnataka, Andhra and Tamil Nadu. BCCI hasn’t committed to this as of now, but a decision on this is due next week.
venkatakrishna@newindianexpress.com