New Delhi, Feb 24 (PTI): With focus on the 2023 ODI World Cup at home, ‘shadow tours’ with the India A squad will have to wait till the year-end tour of South Africa.
The concept of shadow tour started once Rahul Dravid took over as the NCA head. The shadow tour is one where an India A side travels to the same country where the senior Test team is due to travel subsequently.
As recently as December last year, the India A team visited Bangladesh right before the Test team was scheduled to play two games.
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“This year the focus apart from WTC final will be on ODIs till the World Cup. Hence, the A team tours for red ball games might only happen after November.
“In December-January, India is going to South Africa for a full-length Test tour during next WTC cycle. There is a high chance India A shadow tour might resume before that,” a BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
Post Border-Gavaskar trophy and before the ODI World Cup, Indian team will play only three Test matches, which includes a possible WTC final at the Oval and then two Tests in the West Indies in July-August for the next WTC cycle.
Since WTC final is a one-off game in England, one doesn’t need a shadow tour for that and also it will be held right after the IPL.
It is understood that for the West Indies series, there is little chance of having a shadow tour.
Due to COVID-19, there were a lot of domestic players who lost precious years during their transition from age group cricket and as a novel gesture, BCCI had changed the age-group CK Nayudu Trophy from U-23 to U-25 to compensate all those who were losing an opportunity because of 2020-21 season being badly affected.
However, it is understood that from next season, CK Nayudu Trophy will revert back to its original U-23 format, which remains a bridge between U-19 and senior team.
“Since normalcy is back and we had a full-fledged domestic season this year, the BCCI might be going back to U-23 format from next season,” a senior state unit official in the know of things, said.
