The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) informed the state associations on Thursday that the Ranji Trophy season will begin from February 10.
As per reports, the first phase of the Indian domestic first-class championship will be held between February 10 and March 15 where a total of 57 matches. The first phase will run for a period of 34 days.
Later, the second phase of the tournament will be played between May 30 and June 26.
Meanehile, reports also suggested that the Indian board will go ahead with a pre-quarterfinal in which the top-ranked team from the plate group will square off against the bottom-ranked Elite team for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Notably, after three rounds of league matches, a total of nine teams, eight from elite and one from plate group, will qualify for the knockouts.
The bottom-placed team from the elite group will face the top-ranked team from the plate group for a one-off pre-quarterfinals and the winning team of the qualifier will reach the last-eight stage along with seven other teams.
The league stages will be reportedly held in Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Rajkot, Gurugram, Rohtak, Delhi, Guwahati, Cuttack, Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai.
Earlier in January, the Indian board had postponed the Ranji Trophy along with the Col CK Nayudu Trophy and senior women’s T20 League for the 2021-22 season in the wake of the rising Covid-19 cases across the nation.
The BCCI had said that it took the decision keeping in mind the safety of the players, support staff, match officials, and other participants involved.
“BCCI does not want to compromise the safety of the players, support staff, match officials, and other participants involved and hence, has decided to put the three tournaments on hold till further notice. The BCCI will continue to assess the situation and take a call on the start of the tournaments accordingly,” the board secretary Jay Shah had said in a statement.
“BCCI thanks and continues to appreciate the efforts of the healthcare workers, state associations, players, support staff, match officials, and all the service providers who put their best foot forward to host more than 700 matches across 11 tournaments in the current 2021-22 domestic season,” it added.
Notably, the Ranji Trophy was also not held last season due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
GROUPINGS:
Elite A (Rajkot): Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Meghalaya
Elite B (Cuttack): Bengal, Baroda, Hyderabad, Chandigarh
Elite C (Chennai): Karnataka, Railways, Jammu and Kashmir, Pondicherry
Elite D (Ahmedabad): Saurashtra, Mumbai, Odisha, Goa
Elite E (Thiruvananthapuram): Andhra, Rajasthan, Services, Uttarakhand
Elite F (Delhi): Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Tripura
Elite G (Rohtak, Gurugram): Vidarbha, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Assam
Elite H (Guwahati): Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh
Plate (Kolkata): Bihar, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh