Indian legends Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli returned to domestic cricket in some style as both scored massive centuries in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. However, this exposed BCCI’s ignorance towards domestic cricket, as fans failed to get a glimpse of the innings played by the global stars.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli performed for their respective state teams, Mumbai and Delhi, in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy, and tickets for the matches were not on sale despite the intense enthusiasm shown by Indian fans. Moreover, fans could not even catch glimpses of their favorite stars as BCCI failed to telecast the matches properly.
The BCCI had decided to telecast only two matches of the first round of Vijay Hazare Trophy and it did not include the two great players. He received extreme criticism for the quality of the footage released of both innings. Some people even trolled it and questioned BCCI whether it was pulled using CCTV.
BCCI’s utmost priority for international matches has led to it ignoring domestic fixtures
The BCCI selectors asked international legends to feature in domestic cricket, but they would never have imagined that the giants’ huge fan base would tarnish their image by keeping low standards of broadcasting.
One of the most influential and powerful boards in international cricket, BCCI has still not been able to improve its broadcasting standards in domestic cricket. They have largely been seen prioritizing the IPL as well as international matches, as the broadcasts are often of great quality, but have failed to maintain the standards domestically.
They have ignored domestic cricket in recent times, as domestic games do not generate large amounts of revenue for the BCCI. IPL, which is a private league managed by BCCI, gives them huge revenues, as broadcasting rights are sold for lakhs and billions. As a result of these, the BCCI has a very low budget for domestic events.
BCCI’s domestic matches lack centralized broadcasting standards
The Indian board gradually gained the top position as one of the leading boards in world cricket and established its dominance in the game. In the case of international broadcasts, high-resolution cameras and high-resolution equipment are used by the official broadcast partners.
However, in domestic matches where there is no official broadcast partner and they do not generate revenue for the BCCI, poor quality and outdated equipment is used. Another major flaw that has emerged is the lack of a central standard for broadcasting domestic games.
State associations have no standards to maintain the quality of recordings during matches. Moreover, they also know that those videos or footage will not be made public and will be used only within BCCI, which further limits the quality.
Domestic matches are not considered fan-facing products in India
Unlike many other cricket boards such as Cricket Australia and the ECB, the BCCI does not treat its domestic games as a commercial event for fans to watch and enjoy. While County Championship and Sheffield Shield matches draw crowds, the Ranji Trophy is mostly played behind closed doors or with empty stands.
Even in white-ball cricket, Indian domestic tournaments do not have much awareness among their fans, as they are only for the development of cricketers from the state. Such games are recorded by national, domestic and IPL scouts to analyze their form and scout the players.
If they fail to treat home games as a fan-facing product and also derive significant amounts of revenue from the matches, there is little chance of improving the quality of home footage.
Also read: Jasprit Bumrah ruled out of Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26; BCCI gives priority to T20 World Cup fitness
