BCCI considers fielding seperate Test and T20I sides on same day

The corona virus pandemic has affected the whole cricketing season and the cricket boards are finding it difficult to prefer one tour or tournament over other due to sponsorships and various other deals. The Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI)  has come up with a plan to tackle this situation.

In such a proposal India’s white ball and red ball teams could be asked to play on the same day with two separate squads to recover lost time in the cricketing calendar.

BCCI to face huge loss

All cricketing activities have been suspended since March and the BCCI Treasurer Arun Dhumal, earlier stated that they stand to lose upto Rs 4,000 crore if the Indian Premier League doesn’t take place this year. The T20 World Cup in Australia is also in doubt and so is India’s tour Down Under scheduled towards the end of the year. These are pinnacle events that bring in huge amount of revenue to the respective boards.

“None of us know when sport, especially international cricket will resume. But if we have to safeguard all our stakeholders – from sponsors to spectators – one of the options is to select two different squads and play a Test series and a T20I series simultaneously,”

a Board of Control for Cricket in India official was quoted as saying by Sportstar.

India to field 2 seperate teams

As per reports India is likely to field two separate teams on the same day, one for the test match and other for the T20I series. It is possible for India to take such a bold step to satisfy all of its sponsors and touring teams as India is one among the very few countries in the world that is capable of fielding multiple teams in the same day. India do have more than abundant international standard cricketers who can make an impact on the world stage.

Australia had fielded two different teams on the same day on one occasion before. They had played a T20I against Sri Lanka and a Test match against India on consecutive days in February 2017. The Australians had fielded two different sides as the T20I was played in Adelaide while Steve Smith and Co were playing the Border-Gavaskar series in Pune.