Full-fledged Ranji Trophy back on domestic calendar

Domestic season to begin with Duleep Trophy, Irani Cup also back on schedule.
Board of Control for Cricket in India. (File | PTI)
Board of Control for Cricket in India. (File | PTI)

CHENNAI: THE return of a full-fledged Ranji Trophy is the highlight of India’s domestic calendar which was formalised at the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Apex Council meeting in Mumbai on Thursday. With the country returning to normalcy after the pandemic, the BCCI has included even age-group tournaments in the calendar.

At the meeting, the BCCI also picked the venues for India’s two home series against Australia and South Africa. The T20Is against Australia will be held in Mohali, Nagpur and Hyderabad on September 20, 23 and 25 respectively.

The T20Is against South Africa will begin on September 28 at Thiruvananthapuram before the action moves to Guwahati (October 1) and Indore (October 3). With the World Cup beginning on October 16, there is a strong likelihood the T20 team will depart for Australia before ODI leg. Ranchi, Lucknow and Delhi will host the ODIs from October 6-11.

Meanwhile, the Duleep Trophy, which hasn’t been held since 2019-20, will kickstart India’s domestic season on September 8 and will run till September 25. The Irani Cup, last held in the 2018-19 season, also makes a return with Ranji champions Madhya Pradesh taking on Rest of India in a five-day contest from October 1.

October and November has been allotted for senior men's and women’s white-ball tournaments. Syed Mushtaq Ali and the Senior Women’s T20 will begin on October 11 and run till November 5, with a Diwali break of seven days sandwiched between the group stages and knockouts. The Senior Women will also play in inter-zonal T20s (Nov 8-15) for the first time before featuring in the Senior Women’s T20 Challenger Trophy from November 20-26. Women’s One-day Trophy will begin on January 18 and end on February 7. This will be followed by Women’s Inter-Zonal One day tournament which makes a return to the domestic season for the first time since the 2013-14 season and will run from February 12-21. Similarly, the BCCI has also introduced women’s Under-16 one-day trophy which will be held from December 26 to January 3.

In the men’s circuit, the Vijay Hazare Trophy will follow the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 trophy and will be held from November 12 to December 2. With the 50-over World Cup scheduled for next year, curiously there is no space for the Deodhar Trophy which used to be contested by India A and B teams and winner of last season’s Vijay Hazare Trophy.

The Ranji Trophy, likely to run from December 13 to February 28, will see the 38 teams feature in a new format. The Plate League comprising Meghalaya, Manipur, Sikkim, Arunachal, Bihar and Mizoram will have a champion this season. After the league stages, the top four teams will feature in semifinals, followed by the final.

The 32 Elite teams have been grouped in four groups of eight each. The group-toppers will advance to the quarterfinals. The second placed teams in each group will be ranked from 5-8 based on points/wins/NRR/quotient. The bottom ranked team will then play the winner of Plate League in pre-quarterfinals. The rest seven teams will advance to quarterfinals directly.
Even the Mushtaq Ali and Vijay Hazare tournaments will follow the same format with Plate Group having a separate winner.

Sponsorship changes
It is understood that PayTm, whose title sponsorship with the BCCI runs till March 2023, has requested the rights be assigned to Mastercard. It is also learnt that there are concerns about team sponsor Byju’s who reportedly owe the board `86.21 crore.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com