U-16 Baroda cricketers forced to skip Polly Umrigar Trophy

VADODARA: Some of the budding junior cricketers from the city, who were celebrating their victory in U-16 Boost Cup city finals a couple of days ago, are now on a sticky wicket. The cricketers have been forced to choose between the three-day practice game organized by Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) and the U-16 Polly Umrigar Trophy that started from Monday.
Thanks to the lack of planning at both BCA and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) level, six U-16 players had to skip the ongoing Umrigar trophy. BCA insisted that the boys, who were selected for the Baroda U-16 team, should play in the practice game against Madhya Pradesh starting from Tuesday.
"It's surprising that our boys were asked to skip the Umrigar trophy played by BCCI to attend BCA's practice matches. Practice-matches are played so that cricketers can play well in professional matches. Then why are these cricketers being asked to skip official tournaments to play in practice games? Can't BCA reschedule the practice games or allow players to take part in official matches?" questioned, managing trustee of Shreyas Vidyalaya Pankaj Jani.
Four of the six kids who couldn't go to Umrigar trophy are from Shreyas. While the other two are from Silver Oak School, that is run by Shreyas Education Trust. Both Shreyas and Silver Oak teams had entered the city finals of U-16 Boost Cup last week that made them eligible to play in the Umrigar trophy. "Our players are quite disappointed as they couldn't play at zonal level. When I raised the issue with BCA officials, they said that it's up to the parents to decide where their kids want to play. BCA can't give such answers when it comes to cricketers' careers," Jani added.
The cricketers who skipped the Umrigar trophy include Yash Adiacha, Kartik Kakade, Hemaksh Surve, Taushil Gilani, Jitesh Kahar and Smit Ghosh. When asked, Nayan Mongia, in-charge of BCA's junior cricket development said, "We want to prepare our boys for the three-day U-16 national tournament that starts in November end, whereas the Umrigar Trophy is a one-day tourney. If our boys keep playing one-day games, then how can they get practice and temperament for three-day game? Also, we cannot make strategies and preparations without our key players."
"It's unfortunate that the tournament dates have clashed. But, we need them for U-16 national tournament," Mongia added.
tushar.tere@timesgroup.com