The Indian cricket board's decision to scrap the Deodhar Trophy tournament this year has disappointed Dr. Suman Athawale.

By Bipin Dani

Athawale, a gynaechologist in Pune, is the daughter of late Prof. DB Deodhar, on whose name this tournament is named.

She is one of the two surviving children of the 'Grand Old Man' of Indian cricket. Prof. Deodhar's son Sharad, (80), now settled in Florida, also played for Maharashrtra.

"It is sad to see that to accommodate IPL matches, Deodhar tropy is scrapped. Not only the players but the board is also now running after money but they forget that the Test is only the real cricket," Athawale said.

"Adam Gilchrist was a better Test player first and then he played well in the Twenty20. The Indian players should understand the importance of basics and Test cricket", she said.

Deodhar Trophy is a 50-over one-day competition played on a league basis among five zonal teams - North Zone, South Zone, East Zone, West Zone and Central Zone. The competition was introduced in 1973-74 season, with South Zone winning the trophy.

"It was not correct on the BCCI's part to cancel the Deodhar trophy", she added.

The MCA (Maharashtra Cricket Association), was a part of the Working Committee meeting which took this decision, but its president Ajay Shirke sees "no harm" in cancelling the tournament.

"The Deodhar trophy is being played on zonal system and there is no ownership of any team participating here. The individual players are supposed to participate in Deodhar trophy and on the basis of their performance they are selected for higher grade of matches. Prof. Deodhar's name can be given to any other bigger tournament", he said.

Prof. Deodhar had never played a Test - at 40, he was considered too old when India played its first Test in 1932. He died in 1993, at the age of 101. One of the stands in Pune's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium is named after him.