IANS 
  
NEW DELHI, Mar 30: A proposed annual meeting of Ranji Trophy captains and coaches here has been postponed because sufficient number of rooms was not available in hotels.

The annual meeting, held at the end of the domestic season every March, has captains and coaches of 27 associations discussing improvements in domestic cricket with key officials of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

"The meeting was planned in New Delhi March 29 but it has been deferred indefinitely due to the non-availability of sufficient rooms in the Taj Palace as the Indian and England teams are also staying there," a BCCI source said.

The Taj Group of Hotels gives the BCCI a discount of over 40 percent. The official said the BCCI did not even try other hotels because it would have to pay full room tariffs.

"Since more than 60 rooms have been occupied by the Indian and English teams and match related officials, the board did not want to hold the meeting in any other hotel."

At least 27 rooms would have been needed for one night at least for the meeting, assuming the captain and coach of an association occupied one room.

Friday was chosen for the meeting because it was the right time for the captains and coaches to meet BCCI president and technical committee chairperson Sunil Gavaskar and others. Besides, many players go to England to play league cricket in April.

"If the meeting is held in May or June, as in previous years, many captains are represented by some other player or a coach is represented by someone else who is not so qualified to speak," the official said.

"Now it is anybody's guess when the meeting would be held."