BCCI rejects Bengal’s plea to defer domestic matches due to cyclone Dana

New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has rejected a request from the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) to reschedule two of its home domestic games due to the threat of Cyclone Dana. The CAB had urged BCCI to defer their Ranji Trophy and U-23 Col CK Naidu Trophy matches against Kerala and Railways, respectively, scheduled to be played this week in Kolkata and Kalyani, according to a report in ESPNcricinfo. Bengal’s senior team will host Kerala at the Jadavpur University Campus’ second Ground in Kolkata as the third round of the Ranji Trophy begins on Saturday. The CAB was hopeful that BCCI would accommodate their request with a slightly longer gap between matches for this season. After the conclusion of the match between Bengal and Kerala, both teams will have a week-long gap before their next encounter. Kerala will travel back home for their fourth-round fixture to host Uttar Pradesh from November 6 while Bengal will take on Karnataka in Bengaluru from November 6. The Bengal Under-23 team is set to host Railways Under-23 from October 27 to 30 at the Bengal Cricket Academy Ground in Kalyani, near Kolkata, where the recent Bengal vs Bihar Ranji Trophy match was completely washed out due to heavy rain. Their following match will take place from November 8 to 11 in Nagpur against Vidarbha, leaving them with a week-long break in between. Meanwhile, the Bengal senior team will be without Abhimanyu Easwaran, Abhishek Porel, and Mukesh Kumar for the next couple of Ranji Trophy rounds, as they have been selected for India A’s shadow tour of Australia. –IANS