NEW DELHI: Thirty-eight teams will compete in the Vijay Hazare Trophy that will conducted across six cities from February 20 to March 14.
Teams have been divided into five Elite groups consisting of six teams in each group and the other group is the Plate group, consisting of eight teams. Teams in the Elite Groups A, B, C, D, and E will play across different venues in Surat, Indore, Bengaluru, Jaipur, and Kolkata respectively while the Plate group teams will play matches in Chennai.
The league phase of the tournament is scheduled to take place from February 20 until March 1. The knockout stages will start with a pre-quarterfinal on March 7 followed by quarterfinals on March 8 and 9. The semi-finals will be taking place on March 11 and the final will be held on March 14. The BCCI has not yet announced venues for the knockouts.
As per the schedule announced by the BCCI, players will have to assemble in the location a week before the start of the tournament. The players will undergo quarantine and there will be three COVID-19 tests on February 13, 15 and 17 while the practice session will be held on February 18 and 19.
Karnataka will enter the tournament as the defending champions. They had defeated Tamil Nadu in the final.
Groups
Elite A: Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Hyderabad, Tripura, Baroda, Goa. Venue: Surat
Elite B: Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Andhra Pradesh. Venue: Indore
Elite C: Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Odisha, Railways, Bihar. Venue: Bengaluru
Elite D: Delhi, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Pondicherry. Venue: Jaipur
Elite E: Bengal, Services, Jammu & Kashmir, Saurashtra, Haryana, Chandigarh. Venue: Kolkata
Plate Group: Uttarakhand, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Sikkim. Venue: Chennai
