Vengsarkar reckons home-away rule was better

DILIP Vengsarkar was certainly not impressed with the way things panned out in the two Ranji Trophy semi-finals played on neutral venues.

The former India skipper, who was in the technical committee last year, had initiated the change to play important fixtures on neutral venues. He however did not think the purpose was served when Mumbai played against Suarashtra at Chennai and Tamil Nadu clashed against Uttar Pradesh at Nagpur a few days ago.

"It was not what we wanted to see. The whole idea to play on neutral venues was to take away the home advantage. The visiting teams generally claimed of playing in hostile conditions. We wanted to have a fair and level playing field.

"But what we saw in the two semi-finals was extremely disappointing. The flat tracks provided no competition. I now feel going back to the earlier rule of playing on home and away basis will be wise," said Vengsarkar, the vice-president of Mumbai Cricket Association.