A day after Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) raised its objection regarding the scheduling of the domestic calender, Kerala Cricket Association yesterday turned the heat on GM (Cricket Operations) Saba Karim, asking him to change the scheduling of National U-16 Championship for the Vijay Merchant Trophy. Karim has played a major role in finalising the domestic fixture and most of the suggestions by the technical committee headed by former India captain Sourav Ganguly on integration of northeastern states, has been overlooked.

In fact, a lot of technical committee members have been questioning as to what's the need for having meetings if Karim wants to take decisions unilaterally. In a departure from previous years, the BCCI has decided to advance the dates of the Vijay Merchant Trophy (national U-16 boys tournament) by two months from its usual December start. This year, it is scheduled to start on October 3.