MUMBAI: The Ranji Trophy, India’s premiere red-ball domestic cricket tournament, is all set to return after a one-year Covid-induced gap. As per the revised schedule prepared by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the league stage of the tournament will reportedly be played between February 16 and March 5 across nine venues shortlisted by the BCCI.
The board has decided to conduct the tournament in two phases – league stage before the Indian Premier League (which is likely to begin on March 27) and knockout rounds after the 2022 edition of the cash-awash T20 league is done and dusted.
The league stage’s culmination on March 5 leaves 22 days for the IPL-bound players to join their respective teams.
Mid-Day, quoting board sources, reports that the league stage will be conducted at nine venues – Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Rajkot, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram, Cuttack and Guwahati.
The BCCI has decided to make eight Elite groups of four teams each with the remaining six teams forming the Plate group. Each team in the Elite groups will play a minimum of three league games.
As per Mid-Day, the BCCI has decided to use more venues in order to ensure more matches can be played simultaneously. The flip to that of course is that it exponentially increases the chances of Covid infections among players / support staff.
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