28 August,2009 07:14 AM IST | | A Correspondent
The Board of Control for Cricket India's Corporate Trophy (starting September 1) was launched in Bangalore last evening with much fanfare in the presence of Rahul Dravid, Harbhajan Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
It will be the first-ever corporate event organised by BCCI at four centres across India.
But what is even more interesting is that the matches will be considered official domestic one-dayers or List A games. This was confirmed by BCCI's official statisticians, Sudhir Vaidya and Dinar Gupte.
"The matches will be classified official domestic one-day games. All records will be under List A," said the statisticians. The hosting of the Corporate Trophy probably explains why one of the other premier one-day tournamentsu00a0- the Deodhar Trophyu00a0- is unlikely to be staged this season because a replacement event is
ready.
So in effect, India's domestic season now starts on September 1 instead of the traditional launch with the Irani Cup as would happen in the previous years.
The Corporate Trophy is being organised primarily with the objective of providing the players at all levels with employment so the Board is keen to extend all possible help.
But what is interesting is that while the Corporate Trophy is accorded official status, the Indian Premier League matches did not even find a mention in the statistical annual last season.
