MUMBAI: With next September's ICC Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa in mind, the BCCI has decided to initiate the country's players into the new form of instant cricket by conducting a domestic tournament in March-April, 2007.
"We are planning a domestic Twnety20 cricket tournament, details of which will be worked out in consultation with the board's technical and marketing committees, in March-April. All the associations will have to field teams in the tournament," a board source said on Wednesday.
"We will be holding these matches under lights at various centres and zones. The tournament is certainly in the pipeline," the source added.
India's domestic calendar for the season released by the BCCI has no provision for a domestic tournament in the instant form of the game which has become a rage in countries like England and South Africa.
In fact, the senior Indian cricketers now in South Africa will have their first taste of this form of the game when they take on the hosts in their maiden Twenty20 international at the New Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on December one.
This one-off Twenty20 international is sandwiched between the fourth and fifth 50-over ODIs between the two teams.
The 2006-07 domestic cricket season ends with the final of the one-day inter-zonal knock-out tournament at Mohali on March 25.
