BCCI postpones Ranji Trophy and other domestic tournaments, Shardul Thakur reacts

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has indefinitely postponed the Ranji Trophy, the Colonel CK Nayudu Under-25 Trophy, and the Women's T20 League for the 2021-22 season in light of the rising COVID-19 cases across the country. The first two competitions were slated to begin this month, followed by the third in February 2022.

An official release from the board said the tournaments had been "put on hold till further notice". The statement added that while the BCCI will assess the situation in the coming days, it also thanked all stakeholders for their efforts. It read:

"BCCI does not want to compromise the safety of the players, support staff, match officials and other participants involved and hence, has decided to put the three tournaments on hold till further notice. The BCCI will continue to assess the situation and take a call on the start of the tournaments accordingly."

The statement added:

"BCCI thanks and continues to appreciate the efforts of the healthcare workers, state associations, players, support staff, match officials and all the service providers who put their best foot forward to host more than 700 matches across 11 tournaments in the current 2021-22 domestic season."

Considering the mostly pacified pandemic situation in the country in early December, international-standard bio bubbles were not prepared for the domestic tournaments. This had led to the emergence of COVID-19 cases in the Bengal and Mumbai state teams, who had already checked in to their respective hotels.

The Ranji Trophy, India's premier domestic competition, was supposed to be held after two seasons after it was canceled for the first time in 85 years last year.

The postponement comes less than 24 hours after the BCCI president, Sourav Ganguly, had assured that it would go ahead as per schedule. Recovering from the virus himself, Ganguly was quoted as saying by Sportstar:

"It is on as per schedule."

It will be interesting to see if and how the season is rescheduled.

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Shardul Thakur reacts to BCCI's postponement of the domestic season

All-rounder Shardul Thakur, who was India's best performer on Day 2 of the second Test against South Africa, also reacted to the announcement. He said while he felt for the players affected by the postponement, the 30-year-old acknowledged that the BCCI's call would have considered the pandemic situation and "must be right".

Thakur said:

"I feel for them but you also have to look at the COVID scenario in the country because with the cases rising and we have so many domestic games [to be played], it might not be easy to manage all the teams and to have a tab on each and everyone. I think right now whatever the board has decided must be right..."

India led by 58 runs after Day 2 of the second Test, with Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane standing strong at the crease.