This Ranji Trophy season will see another Northern state in Uttarakhand making their debut in India’s premier domestic tournament, the Ranji Trophy. The state will also take part in other domestic and age-group tournaments. The Committee of Administrators (CoA) decided to appoint a ‘Consensus Committee’ to run cricket in the state for the next year.

The committee comprises of nine members which have been selected by the CoA in New Delhi yesterday. Ratnakar Shetty, former game development manager of the BCCI, will lead the committee. His major role will be that of restoring the game back in the state. Meanwhile, six of the nine members in the committee will come from the different associations within the state.

In an interview to The Indian Express, CoA head Vinod Rai said, “See, Uttarakhand is an unfortunate situation that from the time of its birth, 18 years, they haven’t been able to play as a state. Their players were playing for other states/associations. They (Uttarakhand) had three-four associations among themselves, falling out with each other all the time. So the court asked us to intervene.

“What happened today was, we (CoA) met all the four associations (rival factions), and (told them) to come to a consensus. Which association will be recognized (by the BCCI) may take three months, four months, five months etc. But during that time the youngsters should not miss the opportunity to play this season. So by consensus, they have agreed to come together and constitute a committee, which is called the Consensus Committee for Uttarakhand.”

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Apart from Prof Shetty as the convener of the committee, it will also have a member from the BCCI’s finance team and a state government nominee. “This committee will run cricket for the next one year. There are six members from the state. Ratnakar Shetty will be the convener. There will be one finance man from the BCCI because the BCCI will make funds available to them. And since they will be using the government stadium in Dehradun, the committee will have a state government nominee. So there will be six plus three members,” Rai added.

Asked about the team selection process, he said: “The committee will select the team and one of the BCCI selectors will be sitting there to guide them. The Dehradun Stadium will be their home ground and they have one more stadium in Haldwani. So they have enough infrastructure. Uttarakhand is part of the BCCI today, eligible for all age-groups and the senior level.”