With permission from the BCCI, Sikkim will host its first-ever Ranji Trophy game in December.
Sikkim Cricket Association (SICA), publicised that the organisation has been given BCCI authorisation to organise Ranji Trophy games in Sikkim after meeting the criteria for doing so.
“It brings us great pleasure to publicly announce that the BCCI has authorised SICA ground to serve as the site of the first-ever Ranji Trophy game to be held in Sikkim beginning on December 13.”
The state’s ability to host the games was in doubt due to worries that the necessary tournament-related infrastructure wouldn’t be finished in time.
Anant Datar, the BCCI’s manager of cricket operations, recently inspected the infrastructure and facilities, he was impressed with the recently-developed facilities at SICA cricket ground at Mining, about 35km away from State capital Gangtok.
Sikkim will be playing its Ranji Trophy matches at home against Mizoram, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. The venues for the remaining Plate Group matches, against Meghalaya and Bihar, are yet to be announced.
Along with Ranji Trophy matches, Sikkim was also allowed to host two Cooch Behar Trophy matches and three Col CK Nayudu Trophy encounters at Mining SICA ground.
Sikkim and other eight new states made its way into Ranji Trophy and other premier domestic cricket tournaments in 2018.
However, due to lack of ground and facilities, Sikkim had been playing at adopted home grounds and neutral venues away from the state.
(inputs from IANS)