Dates for Ranji Trophy 2016/17 announced

Defending champions Mumbai with the trophy in February 2016

The 83^rd edition of the Ranji Trophy will start on 6^th October and will end in January 2017, a marked change in the domestic cricket calendar in the country. Chattisgarh will make their Ranji Trophy debut, slotting into Group C as the 28^th team in the competition. Unlike the last two years, the domestic limited overs competitions will start only once the Ranji Trophy is over. The final will be played between 7 January and 11 January.

India’s domestic season, which was flagged off with the ongoing Duleep Trophy, will be brought to a close with the 50-over Deodhar Trophy in March 2017, a tournament which shall be played in the same format as the previously existing Challenger Trophy.

One other major change to be seen in the 2016/17 Ranji Trophy is the use of neutral venues, as recommended by BCCI’s technical committee, headed by Sourav Ganguly. In previous seasons, teams have often complained about how pitches are sometimes manipulated by home teams to such extents that it becomes unsafe for play.

For instance, Odisha had lodged a complaint last season after an ‘underprepared’ pitch at Kalyani had seen them lose to Bengal by 133 runs, with 20 wickets falling inside two days.

The matches will be played across 40 venues, with Raipur and Belgaum being the two additions. Bangalore have not been allotted any Ranji matches because of ongoing work with the Chinnaswamy Stadium’s drainage facilities.

Group A – Mumbai, Baroda, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Bengal, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Railways, Uttar Pradesh

Group B – Saurashtra, Odisha, Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Vidarbha, Rajasthan, Assam, Jharkhand

Group C – Hyderabad, Haryana, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, Services, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh

Andhra and Haryana have been demoted to Group C after finishing last in their groups in the 2015/16 Ranji Trophy. Saurashtra and Jharkhand have been promoted to Group B. Three teams each from Groups A and B and two teams from Group C will qualify for the quarterfinals after the initial round of league action.

The league matches will go on till 10^th December, the quarterfinals will be held from 17^th to 21^st December and the semifinals will be held from 27^th December to 31^st December.