More granted amnesty, changes to domestic cricket approved

Kiran More, the former India wicketkeeper, has been granted amnesty by the BCCI for being part of the unrecognised and now defunct Indian Cricket League. The BCCI announced its decision on More - which makes him eligible for the board's one-time benefit to former cricketers - after its working committee meeting on Monday, when it also ratified the recommendations made by the technical committee last month to change the structure of domestic cricket in the country.

More, who played 49 Tests and 94 ODIs for India, is now eligible for one-time payment of Rs. 60 lakh ($108,000) from the board, which distributed revenues from the knockout games of the IPL among former cricketers.

The changes to the structure of domestic cricket came via the technical committee that was headed by Sourav Ganguly and included Anil Kumble as a special invitee.

The changes include: Shuffling the domestic cricket calendar to start the season with the Duleep Trophy; Twenty-seven Ranji teams to be divided into three groups (A, B and C) of nine each; each team to play a minimum of eight Ranji games; knockout games to be five-day fixtures; outright wins worth six points instead of five; bowlers permitted to bowl two bouncers an over and one bowler to be permitted to bowl 12 overs in limited-overs games.

The working committee also decided that the top three teams from Groups A and B, and the top two from C, will qualify for the Ranji quarter-finals.

The working committee also approved the proposal to include the winner of the limited-overs Vijay Hazare Trophy in the three-team NKP Salve Challenger Trophy. The other two teams will be picked by the senior selection committee. In addition, it the Under-22 inter-state tournaments were done away with, making way for A team tournaments between states with players under the age of 25 eligible to participate.