BCCI confirms revised itinerary for Ranji Trophy 2022 season, tournament to begin on February 10
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed the revised itinerary for the upcoming Ranji Trophy 2022 season. As reported earlier, the domestic tournament will be played in two phases, split by the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The first phase will be played from February 10 to March 15. A total of 57 matches will be held in this phase. The second phase of the Ranji Trophy 2022 will be from May 30 to June 26 and will feature seven matches.
In the second phase, the bottom-ranked team from the Elite group will take on the top-ranked team from the Plate group in a pre-quarter final. The quarterfinal draw will be released after the pre-quarter final match.
The domestic tournament was scheduled to start on January 13 but was postponed in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases.
However, with the situation improving, the BCCI has decided to organize the Ranji Trophy in two phases - the league stage before the IPL and the knockouts after it.
Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Rajkot, Haryana, Delhi, Guwahati, Cuttack, Trivandrum and Chennai have been finalized as venues for the tournament.
The #RanjiTrophy itinerary is finally informed to state associations. Here we go @TheHinduSports @sportstarweb https://t.co/PBXwwoYsT3
Ranji Trophy 2022 will feature eight Elite groups and one Plate group. Each Elite group comprises of four sides each while the Plate group includes six teams.
According to reports, with the IPL scheduled to begin on March 27, the BCCI was keen on finishing the league stage soon so that the players could join their respective IPL teams immediately after that.
BCCI was forced to cancel Ranji Trophy last year
For the first time in 87 years, the BCCI decided to cancel the Ranji Trophy last season owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The cricket board instead opted for the Vijay Hazare Trophy following consultation with state units.
#OnThisDay, 2014, the Karnataka Cricket team defeated the Maharastra Cricket team by seven wickets to lift their seventh Ranji Trophy.
#CricketTwitter #sports #Cricket #testcricket #OTD #otdtwt #Karnataka #RanjiTrophy https://t.co/Ufk9vRbHtR
No domestic red-ball cricket has taken place in India since the Ranji Trophy final in March 2020. The first-class players, who suffered due to the cancelation of the tournament, were recently compensated.