The scrapping of Deodhar Trophy by the BCCI has created quite a furore in Maharashtra. Ash’ar Khan reports for SportsCenter.

Protesting against the Indian board's decision to strike off India's premier domestic tournament from the season, Shiv Sena members were out on the streets in Mumbai demanding reinstatement of the one-day tournament.

Down with the Indian Premier League. That's a slogan that apparently no one other than an outspoken outfit like Shiv Sena could have chanted in India, the home of the cash-rich league. Slaughtering an almost three-decade old tournament Deodhar Trophy to make room for the IPL next year was not something that the fundamentalist Marathis were ready to take lying down.

"Deodhar Trophy is named after a Marathi - Dr DB Deodhar and has been on since 1973. If it is removed from the domestic calendar, we will not let any IPL matches happen in Maharashtra," a Shiv Sena worker said.

Chopped to create space for IPL

The Deodhar trophy has been removed from next year's calendar because the IPL will be held in March and it will be difficult to accommodate all the current domestic tournaments in the season. The protestors marched to the BCCI office, putting the board's chief administrative officer, Ratnakar Shetty on the back foot.
"BCCI has not taken a final call on it yet and the matter will be discussed by the authorities," Professor Ratnakar Shetty, Chief Administrative Officer, BCCI, said.

What has irked the protestors is also the revival of the Twenty20 Mushtaq Ali tournament, meaning an extra dose of the shortest form of the game. The alarm bells are ringing and the protest march by the Shiv Sainiks is apparently another sign of the same.