Kolkata: The Ranji Trophy 2022, which was postponed earlier in the wake of the Covid-19 upsurge in India, is set to commence from February 16, as per reports.
With their hands tied due to the pandemic situation, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been forced to adopt a new format for the premier domestic tournament with eight groups of four teams each. Six teams will constitute the Plate group, the games of which will be played simultaneously.
As per the original plan, the groupings had 30 Elite and eight Plate teams, but in the current plan, the combination will be 32 Elites and six Plate teams. As per the new schedule, the group stage fixtures will be held across nine cities namely Chennai, Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Bengaluru, Rajkot, Cuttack, Guwahati, Kolkata and Hyderabad in bio-bubble.
Meanwhile, the tournament will be played in two phases, scheduled on either side of the upcoming IPL 2022, with the league stage running between February 16 and March 5 followed by the knockouts in June.
“The groupings and format of the Ranji Trophy should be announced by the BCCI by Tuesday. While finalising the venues, the idea was to look for ‘green zones’ (that are Covid free) and cities which have more than one ground which can stage first-class games.
“The players are supposed to go in a bio-bubble from February 10. They will quarantine for five days, before practicing two days prior to the match,” a reliable source in the BCCI told to PTI.
“The board has decided to conduct the Ranji Trophy this season in two phases. In the first phase, we plan to complete all matches of the league stage while the knockouts will be held in June,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah had said in a release earlier this month.
The Ranji Trophy was earlier set to commence on January 13 but was postponed indefinitely amidst the deteriorating pandemic situation, with India facing horrible third wave.
“BCCI does not want to compromise the safety of the players, support staff, match officials and other participants involved and hence, has decided to put the three tournaments on hold till further notice,” the release read.
This is the second year in a row that India’s domestic cricket has been highly impacted by Covid-19. Ranji Trophy was cancelled in its entirety last year for the first time in its 85-year history.
