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There isn’t any written BCCI rule on this, yet the East Zone appears to be practising it rampantly. For the last two years, players above 30 who have been performing well in the Ranji Trophy have seemingly been denied a place in the East Zone side simply because of their age.
The reason, sources say, is an unwritten rule introduced by an East Zone convenor that players with little or no hope of playing for India should not figure in the zonal team. The irony is that the very convenor who introduced this rule himself played zonal cricket after crossing the age of 30.
The only apparent exception is for India players, who are automatic choices. No such unwritten rule is formally followed in the other zones, although certain selectors are said to be following the policy quite religiously.
Sources said the East Zone may have started the practice and turned it into a de facto rule, but other zones are now silently following a similar policy. Ranji Trophy-winning captain Paras Dogra, who is above 40 and remains a top performer, does not have a place in the North Zone team because of his age, sources said.
“The rule should be simple: if a player is performing in the Ranji Trophy, he should be eligible for selection to the zonal side, irrespective of his age,” a source told CricBlogger.
Even this year, when the East Zone team was selected in Kolkata, the same principle was followed. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was picked as the vice-captain of the East Zone side, the source said.
Representatives from other states who tried to push for the inclusion of performing players above 30 were reminded of the unwritten rule, and those players were not even considered for selection.
“If performance in the Ranji Trophy is the benchmark, age should not become an arbitrary barrier to zonal selection. A player’s form and contribution should matter more than an unwritten age restriction,” an East Zone representative added.
The practice has now raised questions over whether zonal selection is being decided on performance or an unofficial age criterion that has no basis in any written BCCI rule.
