The Ranji Trophy would be held in two phases and now it has been confirmed that the pre-Indian Premier League (IPL) phase would run from February 10 to March 15.
In a letter sent out by BCCI secretary Jay Shah to all state-affiliated units, the details have been specified on how Ranji Trophy would be conducted this season. The post-IPL-phase would run from May 30 to June 26. The Ranji Trophy this season would see 64 matches being played across 62 days.
“I am pleased to share that we are now truly set to resume both international and domestic cricket with full thrust. The coming months are going to be replete with cricketing action. We have waited patiently for the grip of the pandemic to loosen and the time has come for our cricketers to take center-stage all over again,” wrote Shah in his letter, which has been accessed by ANI.
“We have spread out the Ranji Trophy to 9 different venues across the country to mitigate any cross-transmission risk while ensuring the bio-secure bubble is not overburdened,” he added.
There are eight Elite Groups and one Plate Group. There would be four teams in Elite Groups and six teams would make up the Plate Group. One team from each Elite Group will qualify for the quarterfinal stages. The lowest-ranked of the eight qualified teams will have to play a pre-quarterfinal with the top team from the Plate Group.
The Groups are as follows: Elite Group A: Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, and Meghalaya (Matches to be held in Rajkot)
Elite Group B: Bengal, Baroda, Hyderabad, Chandigarh (Matches to be held in Cuttack)
Elite Group C: Karnataka, Railways, Jammu and Kashmir, Pondicherry (Matches to be held in Chennai)
Elite Group D: Saurashtra, Mumbai, Odisha, Goa (Matches to be held in Ahmedabad) Group E (Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Services, and Uttarakhand), Group F (Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, and Tripura), Group G (Vidharbha, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Assam), and Group H (Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, and Chattisgarh) will see their matches being played in Trivandrum, Delhi, Haryana, and Guwahati.
While the Plate Group matches will be held in Kolkata and this group comprises Bihar, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh.
