The Board of control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is all set to bring back the home and away format in Ranji Trophy. The board opted for an idea of neutral venues for 2016/17 season, which was a flop and just after one season, the board has decided to go back to the original format where a team will play four matches at their home ground and four away games.

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The idea to opt for neutral venues was in contention from past many years and in 2016, the format was put to use after complaints about the home side doctoring the pitches.

The biggest example was Ravindra Jadeja who scalped 38 wickets for Saurashtra in just four Ranji matches. It was reported that the state association mend the track so he could make most out of it. Riding on his performance in four Ranji games, he also made a comeback to the Test side for the series against South Africa.

Finally, the BCCI took a bold step but it received a cold response from the captains of the state side, which has forced the board to take back its decision.

“Most of the states have already made it clear that we should go back to the old format of at least four home matches. The last year became an ordeal for the teams as they were constantly traveling for three and half months. It made them homesick. Hopefully, chairman of technical committee Ganguly will take a call. That’s the main point on the agenda apart from discussing the Conclave report,” a BCCI official told PTI.

The final decision on this matter was to come out on July 29 but now it has been delayed by few days.

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Along with a decision on this matter, the board will also decide the fixtures for the upcoming ODI series against Australia, to be played in the month of October/November. With now BCCI slated to play a series against Sri Lanka this year, we might see the fixtures of that series too coming out.

However, there are still doubts whether Australia will tour India, as the pay talks between the Cricket Australia and players association is still underway and the final decision will be taken after it’s finally over. There are high chances of Australia abandoning their tour to Bangladesh and in that case, they might also cancel their travel to India.