Around 250 young “Gen Z” cricketers and their parents staged a protest at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Sunday. The players are demanding that Uttar Pradesh be given three Ranji Trophy teams instead of the current one.
The demonstration was organised by the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Players Association and the Cricket Association of Purvanchal. Protesters, mainly from Purvanchal and central Uttar Pradesh. They argued that the state’s vast size and population of approximately 25 crore make a single Ranji team inadequate for providing fair opportunities to aspiring players across regions.
Gen Z cricketers and parents protest at Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium; Here’s why
Arvind Singh, state president of the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Players Association, said, as per PTI, that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had earlier spoken in favour of more than one Ranji team for such a large state. He told the reporters:
“Given Uttar Pradesh’s population of around 25 crore, there should be three cricket associations and, consequently, three Ranji Trophy teams.”
Beyond the Ranji Trophy, the association highlighted alleged regional imbalances in the ongoing Uttar Pradesh T20 League. Of roughly 150 players across the six teams this season, only 16 are from Purvanchal and central Uttar Pradesh, while 89 hail from nine districts in western Uttar Pradesh and eight are from Delhi, according to Singh.
The protesters plan to escalate their campaign with a major agitation in September. The association has appealed to Gen Z cricketers across the state to participate in large numbers to press for the creation of three separate cricket associations that would field independent Ranji teams. The protest underscores growing frustration among young players over limited pathways into first-class cricket in one of India’s most populous states.
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