Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) technical committee headed by Sourav Ganguly today decided to adhere with the recommendation of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) and allowed to let Bihar participate in the next year’s Ranji Trophy. Further, the technical committee also vouched for the inclusion of the North-Eastern sister states in the Ranji Trophy.

The celebrations from Bihar cricketing fraternity and the North-eastern states will have to wait though as the final seal of approval will have to come from the general body of BCCI. However, the technical committee has done its duty in pushing the case of these cricketing regions till the last approval level.

“The Technical Committee was unanimous in its meeting today that a team from Bihar shall play the Ranji Trophy and other such tournaments in accordance with the order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The Committee, in fact, has also recommended an option of including the North-Eastern states in the Ranji Trophy keeping in view a course to be followed for development of cricket in the region,” said BCCI treasurer.

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“The matter has been referred to the General Body with recommendations being made accordingly in terms of the procedures of the BCCI. The Committee was mindful of the fact that the total implementation of this decision came under the purview of more than just the Technical Committee and was therefore cautious in the recommendations that were made in order to not transgress beyond the Committee’s jurisdiction,” treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry said while speaking to CricketNext.

The case of Bihar’s re-entry into India’s premier domestic tournament was championed by the former Indian wicketkeeper Saba Karim. Interestingly both India’s famous wicketkeepers, Saba Karim and MS Dhoni had made their first-class debut while playing for Bihar. The state team was defunct from the Ranji Trophy since 2003-04 and was continued as Jharkhand cricket team. There was also some dispute regarding the authenticity of the Bihar Cricket Board as there were two factions in Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) and Cricket Association of Bihar (also known as CAB).