Media rights deal for home bilaterals will be done by August-end: Jay Shah | Cricket News – Times of India

MUMBAI: The BCCI’s new media rights deal for bilateral series at home for the next four years (2023-27) will be signed up by August-end, Board secretary Jay Shah told reporters here after an Apex Council meeting on Friday.
“The BCCI’s new media rights deal (for bilateral matches in India) will be in place by August-end. It will start with the eight-match series against Australia (3 ODIs before the ODI World Cup & 5 T20Is after the WC)” Shah said.
Meanwhile, India’s short ODI series against Afghanistan, which was postponed from its June-end date, will now be held in January, he informed.
Women’s head coach to be named before Asiad
Shah said that even though the BCCI’s Cricket Advisory Committee “had recommended a name for the post of head coach of the Indian women’s team, the Board will conduct interviews for the post of batting, bowling and fielding coaches of the India women’s team, and then announce the names of the entire support staff of the side, before the Asian Games in September.”
Apparently, the CAC has recommended Muzumdar’s name for the Indian women’s team head coach post. However, Nooshin Al Khadeer is the interim coach of the Indian women’s team for the Bangladesh tour.

‘Policy for retired players in overseas leagues in a month’
The Apex Council left it to the office-bearers to decide on the policy of participation of India’s retired players’ in overseas T20 leagues. “We’ll come out with a policy in a month’s time to prevent the trend of predetermined retirements (of the players),” Shah said.
“The BCCI is a bit worried that many Indian players will retire early to play in the various lucrative T20 leagues abroad, especially as many teams in these leagues are owned by IPL franchises. Hence, there’s a thought being given to perhaps introduce a cooling-off period. However, there are many factors that have to be considered before the present policy of allowing retired players to play in overseas T20 leagues can be altered. Let’s see what call the BCCI takes ultimately,” a source in the Board told TOI.
Ambati Rayudu will play for Texas Super Kings (TSK) franchise in Major League Cricket in the US, while Robin Uthappa and Yusuf Pathan played for Dubai Capitals in ILT20 in UAE.
BCCI to send teams for Asian Games for the first time
For the first time ever in their sporting history, India will participate in the cricket competition of the Asian Games. “We are going to participate in the Asian Games. The Apex Council has approved the participation of our men and women’s teams,” Shah said. “The BCCI will send a men’s and women’s team for the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, in September-October. Hopefully, we’ll win a gold medal in both the categories,” said a senior official of the BCCI.
The BCCI has taken the decision to participate in cricket at the Asiad after being directed to do so by the government of India. As per item No 4 of the agenda (TOI has a copy) circulated amongst the Apex Council members, “the government of India has approached the BCCI with a direction to send both the men’s and women’s cricket teams to represent India in the upcoming Asian Games, which will be held in China.”
“The cricket competition of the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2022 will be held from September 19 to October 8 at Zhejiang University of Technology Pingfeld Cricket Field. The men’s competition will be played from September 28 to October 8, while the women’s event will be held from September 19-28,” mentions the note.
With the competition coinciding with India hosting the men’s ICC ODI World Cup from October 5-November 19, the BCCI will field a second-string Indian team in the men’s competition. Former India batting great and National Cricket Academy chairman VVS Laxman is likely to be the head coach of the India men’s team for Asiad.
Cricket has been played only thrice in the Asian Games history-when it was played in Incheon in 2014, India were absent.
Concern expressed on Impact Player rule in Mushtaq Ali
TOI has learnt that a few members during the Apex Council meeting expressed concern about using the Impact Player rule in the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy, as it’s not being used at the international level. After some deliberation, it was decided that the IPL-version of the Impact Player Rule will be used in the SMAT, which will begin from October 16, on an “experimental basis.”
‘Fitness yardsticks mandatory for all players’
The BCCI has decided to make certain fitness yardsticks mandatory for all the players in the Indian men’s and women’s teams. “A couple of players in the Indian women’s team were dropped for the Bangladesh tour as they failed to fulfil the fitness criteria. The Board is going to be strict on that front,” a source told TOI.
Board to launch hunt for bowlers
It’s learnt that the BCCI will launch a country-wide hunt to discover bowlers. The talent hunt, for bowlers between the age of 18-23 will be supervised by coaches of the Board’s National Cricket Academy. “It was felt that we need to have bench strength in the bowling department to win Tests, hence the need for this move,” said a source.