Chandigarh's dream of having a Ranji team of its own might soon come true after it received affiliation on Friday from the BCCI after nearly four decades. "Today, in the meeting of BCCI, the affiliation of Chandigarh has been approved. I got the message from BCCI that Chandigarh has been formally inducted as cricket playing state with the Board," Union Territory Cricket Association (UTCA) president Sanjay Tandon told reporters here in the evening.
While the Chandigarh team might soon be set up, chances of the team playing in the Ranji Trophy this year is highly unlikely. The uncertainty is expected to be cleared in the next couple of days. For the time being, Chandigarh plans to play all the other domestic tournaments other than Ranji Trophy. However, it is expected that the unified association from Chandigarh will have voting rights at the BCCI AGM scheduled on October 22.
The region has given valuable players like Kapil Dev, Yuvraj Singh and Shubman Gill to the Indian cricket team. The UTCA was registered in 1982 and since then various attempts were made to get the affiliation. Tandon said that Chandigarh will now have its own team, adding the challenge now is to set up a good cricket outfit.
To get BCCI affiliation, Chandigarh Cricket Association-Punjab had recently decided to merge with UTCA, thus paving way for the Union Territory to be recognised as a separate entity. The development came after representatives from CCA-Punjab held an extensive meeting with UTCA officials at Sector 16 cricket stadium in Chandigarh.
Tandon also gave details how Chandigarh finally got the affiliation and also especially mentioned about the efforts of two-member committee of BCCI, comprising Anshuman Gaekwad and Saba Karim who had visited the city earlier and met UTCA members with regard to recognition.