BCCI may introduce awards in junior cricket – Times of India

MUMBAI: In a first, the BCCI is likely to start giving Player of the Match/Series awards in all its junior tournaments from the 2024-25 domestic season onwards, TOI has learnt. A decision regarding this could be taken at the BCCI’s apex council meeting on June 18. BCCI secretary according to the agenda (TOI has a copy) circulated to the members.

The BCCI conducts Under-16 (Vijay Merchant Trophy), U-19 (Cooch Behar Trophy) and U-23 (CK Nayudu Trophy) tournaments at the junior level for men, and the U-15, U-19 and U-23 events for women. While the governing body of the game gives annual awards for the best performers in these tournaments, this could be the first time that ‘POTM’ and ‘POTS’ awards are given to the players at this level.

On May 11, BCCI secretary Jay Shah had announced that the Board wanted to eliminate the toss in the CK Nayudu Trophy for the 2024-25 season, with the visiting team now having the right to choose whether to bat or bowl first.

Meanwhile, showing some leniency to some players who still have a foreign passport (but have surrendered it in favour of an Indian passport), the BCCI is also considering granting “temporary permission to players with foreign passport who have surrendered such foreign passport in favour of Indian passport” to enable such players to participate in domestic cricket.

TOI had reported on May 23 that the BCCI has made it mandatory for a player to have an Indian passport in order to be eligible to participate in the BCCI’s tournaments, even if he/she has a PIO/OCI (Person of Indian Origin/Original Country India) card.

The apex council will also be provided with an update on the new National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, which is likely to be launched in August, and the North East Development Project. The meeting will also ratify all the changes to domestic cricket proposed by a special committee, comprising head coach Rahul Dravid and chief selector Ajit Agarkar, for the 2024-25 season.