Sixty five matches will be played across nine centres: Kolkata, Chennai, Rajkot, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Cuttack, Trivandrum, and Haryana. (File)After wringing their hands for the last 22 months – the last time a Ranji Trophy game was played – the Indian board has decided to conduct the premier domestic competition in two phases, on either side of the IPL. The first phase of Ranji Trophy will begin on February 10 and run till March 15 while the second phase will be held from May 30 to June 26 after the IPL.
Sixty five matches will be played across nine centres: Kolkata, Chennai, Rajkot, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Cuttack, Trivandrum, and Haryana. The teams will be divided into nine groups – Eight Elite and one Plate. The Elite group will comprise four teams, and the Plate, six. In the league stage, each team will play three matches, totalling 57 games. Elite teams play against each other in the group while Plate Teams will play against three teams from their group.
The winner of the Plate will face-off with the last placed qualifier from the Elite in a pre-quarterfinal game. The winner of this game will join the winners from 7 Elite groups to play in the quarter-finals.
“One team from each Elite Group will qualify for the quarter-final (barring one). The lowest-ranked qualified team from the 8 Elite Group will play the top-ranked team. from Plate Group in the pre-quarter final,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah wrote in its letter sent to all state associations on Thursday afternoon.
“We have spread out the Ranji Trophy to 9 different venues across the country to mitigate any cross transmission risk while also ensuring that blo-secure bubbles are not overburdened. While the persistent virus has still breached the bubble, we have factored in certain contingency plans drawing from our past experience while formulating this structure,” Shah further wrote.
The BCCI were earlier unsure about conducting the Ranji Trophy due to the pandemic but after many former cricketers and media raised questions about their reluctance, they have acquiesced. There was no Ranji Trophy last season due to Covid-19, however, the board did hold its two tournaments Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (20 overs) tournament in both the seasons.
The BCCI will be releasing a detailed itinerary in due course for its Ranji Trophy.
Groups and Venue:
Elite A (Rajkot): Gujarat, MP, Kerala, Meghalaya.
Elite B (Cuttack): Bengal, Baroda, Hyderabad, Chandigarh.
Elite C (Chennai): Karnataka, Railways, J&K, Pondicherry.
Elite D (Ahmedabad): Saurashtra, Mumbai, Odisha, Goa.
Elite E (Trivandrum): Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Services, Uttarakhand
Elite F (Delhi): Punjab, HP, Haryana, Tripura.
Elite G (Haryana): Vidarbha, UP, Maharashtra, Assam.
Elite H (Guwahati): Delhi, TN, Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh.
Plate (Kolkata): Bihar, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh.
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