Mohammad Azharuddin, the president of the Hyderabad Cricket Association, says the newly-formed working group of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for domestic cricket will ensure the interests of the domestic cricketers are protected.

The former India captain, on Saturday (July 10), was drafted into an 11-member panel along with Yudhvir Singh (Central Zone), Devajit Saikia (Northeast Zone), Santosh Menon (South Zone), Rohan Jaitley (North Zone), Avishek Dalmiya (East Zone) and Jaidev Shah (West Zone) as members, apart from the office bearers – BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, secretary Jay Shah, vice-president Rajiv Shukla and treasurer Arun Dhumal part of it – to look into the compensation of the domestic cricketers and resumption of domestic cricket.

“We have to decide the way forward [for domestic cricket],” Azharuddin, who played 99 Tests, 334 ODIs in the 80s and 90s, told Cricbuzz. “At this stage, I don’t have the agenda of the meeting and I cannot say anything. But one thing I am sure about is we have the best of domestic cricketers’ interest in mind. The players’ interest is always a top priority.”.

A date for the meeting of the working group has not yet been decided but it is expected to take place soon though. “We have to make sure that domestic cricket gets going. As you know, last year we didn’t have a full domestic season, understandably for reasons well known to the world. We have to see how the situation pans out in the course of time,” Azharuddin, who played 229 first-class games and 432 List A matches, said.

The BCCI could organise only the white ball domestic tournaments last year for the senior teams but the Ranji Trophy could not be played because of the pandemic. The BCCI has prepared a detailed timeline for this year’s domestic cricket with a plan to start it as early as September.