While Dalmiya reckons that his top priority these days is to bring back the senior Bengal team to the Elite Group in the Ranji Trophy, his key associates in the CAB administration too have come up with impressive ideas.

New joint-secretary Biswarup Dey, who has served as assistant secretary in the past, today gave a lowdown of two interesting initiatives up his sleeves. One plan is aimed at making life easier for Maidan clubs that go berserk when the CAB’s unpredictable domestic schedule goes awry. And the other grand plan is meant to give the senior Bengal boys some much-needed practice at home ahead of the gruelling Ranji Trophy later in the year.

“This season onwards, we plan to chalk out a separate domestic calendar well in advance. The idea is to help the numerous clubs in the Maidan to get a clear picture of things to come well before the local leagues and tournaments begin. If the clubs get hold of the season’s calendar with fixtures and dates laid out, then they will have a clear idea of how to juggle their players around for the various events throughout the season,” Dey explained.

The CAB joint-secretary pointed out that the calendar would be released well before the club transfers get underway in September. “There’s no point in making a calendar after the transfers are over. September is the transfer season, and the clubs will get the calendar in August, that is, this month. It’s only if the clubs get the calendar before the transfers that they will be able to plan out their transfers accordingly,” Dey said.

In simple words, the proposed calendar, which will also try to mention which local club matches are clashing with the Board’s domestic fixtures, will give the clubs enough time prepare accordingly. The Maidan generally sees a bustling season starting October-November, with tournaments like CAB league, CAB knock-out, AN Ghosh Trophy, P Sen Trophy and JC Mukherjee Trophy.

Meanwhile, the other significant plan is aimed at giving Laxmi Ratan Shukla & Co some much-needed practice before the Ranji Trophy is round the corner. Instead of making the senior team undertake random tours to Hyderabad and Bangalore in August-September for warm-up tournaments that aren’t played with enough intensity, the CAB is planning to host the AN Ghosh Trophy in October.

The club tournament, traditionally the season-opener, which is played on a three-day format and is ideally suited as practice for the four-day Ranji Trophy matches, will see the Maidan’s top eight clubs vie for the honours. Effectively, all the senior Bengal players will get to take each other on in the AN Ghosh meet in October and hence, get some serious match-practice for the Ranji Trophy that begins in November.