Mumbai, Feb 3 (UNI): Ranji Trophy will be played from February 10 to June 26 across nine centres in two phases.
The pre-IPL phase, which is scheduled from February 10 to March 15, will witness 57 matches. While the post-IPL phase will see seven games between May 30 to June 26.
According to the schedule and format released by the BCCI, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Rajkot, Haryana, Delhi, Guwahati, Cuttack, Trivandrum and Chennai will host the two-phase championship.
As many as 38 teams have been divided into nine groups — eight Elite groups of four teams each and one Plate group of six teams. Chandigarh and Meghalaya have been directly placed in the Elite division.
“We have spread the Ranji Trophy to nine different venues, across the country to mitigate any cross-transmission risk while also ensuring that bio-secure bubbles are not overburdened,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah wrote to the state units.
“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,” he added.
As per the format, Elite teams in a group play against each other, while the Plate teams will clash with only three teams of their group. One team from each Elite group qualifies for the quarter-finals, barring one which will have to play a pre-quarter-final game.
The lowest-ranked of the eight qualifiers of Elite teams will have to take on the top-ranked side of the Plate group in the pre-quarterfinals. The quarter-finals draw will be held after the pre-quarter-finals. Kolkata will host the Plate Group matches. No team is being allowed to play at home, with all the matches scheduled at neutral venues.
Groupings: Elite A (Venue: Rajkot): Gujarat, MP, Kerala, Meghalaya. Elite B (Venue: Cuttack): Bengal, Baroda, Hyderabad, Chandigarh. Elite C (Venue: Chennai): Karnataka, Railways, J&K, Pondicherry. Elite D (Venue: Ahmedabad): Saurashtra, Mumbai, Odisha, Goa. Elite E (Venue: Trivandrum): AP, Rajasthan, Services, Uttarakhand. Elite F (Venue: Delhi): Punjab, HP, Haryana, Tripura. Elite G (Venue: Haryana): Vidarbha, UP, Maharashtra, Assam. Elite H (Venue: Guwahati): Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh. Plate (Venue: Kolkata): Bihar, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh.
