BCCI accepts ICC rules on Twenty-20

CHENNAI: The Indian Cricket Board on Saturday decided to accept the International Cricket Council's rules and regulations on Twenty-20 cricket by introduced them in the domestic circuit from this year.

"A decision to this effect was taken at the meeting of the Technical Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) held under the chairmanship of Sunil Gavaskar," BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah said after the meeting.

"Twenty-20 is going to be introduced either in the last week of this March or first week of April. It will be played under the ICC rules and regulations," he said.

The one-day Ranji Trophy format would be adopted for Twenty-20 and two teams each from the five zones would play a round-robin league at the national level. The top two teams would qualify for the final, he said.

As far as possible, the matches would be day and night fixtures with two matches a day.

He said corporates would be roped in from next year for sponsorship. But the state associations would still be involved in the tournament.

On other deliberations, Shah said the committee discussed the Ranji Trophy points system and the suggestion on neutral venues for semifinal and finals. The question of awarding a point to the team which concedes the first innings lead in drawn matches also came up for discussion.

But a final decision on these would be taken only after ascertaining the views of coaches and captains of the state teams during a seminar to be held later this year, he said.