A group of ‘Gen Z’ cricketers and their parents turned up at Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium on Sunday with an unusual demand: they want Uttar Pradesh to have three Ranji Trophy teams instead of one.
Around 250 young cricketers and their parents participated in the protest, organised under the aegis of the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Players Association and the Cricket Association of Purvanchal. Their argument is simple: Uttar Pradesh is too big to have just one Ranji Trophy team if young players from across the state are to get a fair shot at domestic cricket.
The protesters, mainly from Purvanchal and central Uttar Pradesh, are demanding the creation of three separate cricket associations in the state, which would then field three Ranji Trophy teams.
Arvind Singh, the state president of the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Players Association, told PTI that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had previously spoken in favour of having more than one Ranji team in a state as large as Uttar Pradesh.
Singh said the state’s population of around 25 crore warranted three cricket associations and, consequently, three Ranji Trophy teams.
The protest at Ekana Stadium was aimed at putting that demand back in the spotlight.
But the players’ concerns go beyond the Ranji Trophy.
Singh also alleged that cricketers from Purvanchal and central Uttar Pradesh are being overlooked in the ongoing Uttar Pradesh T20 League.
According to him, around 150 players are part of the six teams competing in the current season of the league. However, only 16 of them are from Purvanchal and central Uttar Pradesh.
In comparison, 89 players are from nine districts in western Uttar Pradesh, while eight players are from Delhi.
That disparity, the association claims, is another example of why a single state structure is not providing equal opportunities to young cricketers across Uttar Pradesh.
‘Major agitation’ planned in September
The protesters are now planning to take their campaign a step further.
Singh said cricketers from across Uttar Pradesh are preparing for a major agitation in September, with the association appealing to ‘Gen Z‘ players to turn up in large numbers.
The objective will be to push for three cricket associations and three Ranji Trophy teams in the state, allowing players from different regions to have a clearer pathway into first-class cricket.
For the young players and their parents who gathered at Ekana Stadium, the protest is ultimately about opportunity.
With hundreds of aspiring cricketers competing for a limited number of spots in one state team, they believe splitting Uttar Pradesh into three Ranji teams could give far more players the chance to play at the first-class level. And they are now preparing to take that demand beyond the stadium.
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