Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) recently wrote to the Indian Cricket board expressing their concerns regarding the picking of the team for the Under-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy if it is held according to the changed domestic schedule for 2018-19 season. As per the calendar released by BCCI, the age-group tournament is scheduled in the first week of October.
However, monsoon in India doesn’t end till September and so teams in the western part of the country might struggle with conducting trials for selection in time.
We have written a letter to the BCCI explaining our problem if the matches for the under-16 tournament start in the first week of October. It rains in Mumbai till the month of September and at the same time, grounds are not ready to conduct games. How can we select the team without looking at the young boys’ performances? We can’t organise any practice games and as it’s a multi-day tournament, we need time for selection,” MCA joint-secretary, Dr Unmesh Khanvilkar.
Every year the Vijay Merchant trophy is held in the last week of November historically, but BCCI’s new schedule says that the tournament will be held between October 3 and December 14 and will consist of total 97 matches across the country.
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Many state boards hold offseason tours for the senior teams but the junior teams do not have the privilege and so Khanvilkar hoped that the board will look into the matter.
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