Ahmedabad to host the Knockout games of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy


Indian domestic cricket is all set to begin as the schedule and venues of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy have been confirmed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). According to the cricket's top governing body in the country, Ahmedabad in Gujarat will host the knockout games of the tournament while the group stages will be held In Bengaluru, Kolkata, Vadodara, Indore, Mumbai, and Chennai. 

The Board has ordered all teams to assemble at their designated hubs on or before 2nd January as the players and staff will undergo three rounds of COVID-19 testing on January 2, 4, and 6, before being allowed to begin training. 

But the setting will not just be limited to pre-tournament ones as before moving to the next round, all the qualified teams with their players and support staff will undergo two more rounds of testing - on January 20 and 22 - before the start of the knockouts.

While the tournament kicks off on January 10, the quarter-finals will be played on January 26 and 27, the semi-finals on January 29, and the final on January 31. 

While Elite group teams would play in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Indore, Vadodara, and Kolkata, the Plate group team would be playing their matches in Chennai. 

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021 Groups

Elite Group A (Bengaluru): J&K, Karnataka, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Railways, Tripura

Elite Group B (Kolkata): Odisha, Bengal, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Hyderabad

Elite Group C (Vadodara): Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Baroda, Uttarakhand

Elite Group D (Indore): Services, Saurashtra, Vidarbha, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Goa

Elite Group E (Mumbai): Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Mumbai, Kerala, Puducherry

Plate Group (Chennai): Chandigarh, Meghalaya, Bihar, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh

Powered by Froala Editor

Powered by Froala Editor

Discover more
Top Stories
news

Mohammad Amir takes indefinite break from international cricket citing 'mental torture'

Pakistan speedster Mohammad Amir has said that he could not play cricket for Pakistan so long as the current Pakistan Cricket Board dispensation is at the helm of affairs. Saying that he is being tortured mentally both by the board and by the people for choosing white-ball cricket, the 28-year-old feels he can’t take that torture anymore. Answering a journalist’s question on why he looks sad and does he want to leave cricket, Amir said, “No, I am not going away from cricket, actually certain people are trying to pull me away from the game.” “If you would have noticed, I had got the wake-up call at the time when my name was not among the 35 selected to tour New Zealand. If I am not good enough to be among the 35, it was a sign that I must look for myself and plan my game going ahead,” he continued. Recently in Sri Lanka for the Lanka Premier League (LPL), Amir took 12 wickets in 10 games for Galle Gladiators and also played the finals that took place on 16th December in Hambantota. He was brilliant in the death overs. However, even after such a form, he believes he could not play any longer for Pakistan. “To be honest, I don’t think I could play cricket under this management anymore. I am leaving cricket for now. I am being mentally tortured and I don’t think I could take it anymore. I have had enough from 2010-15, can’t take it no more,” he said. Saying that he is always thrown at the same taunt that PCB invested in him and he ditched them (by not playing Test cricket), Amir clarified how not all that is being said is true and thanked former skipper Shahid Afridi. “I have always heard PCB invested a lot in me. It wasn’t like I had come after a year and started playing cricket. I had gone through that hell for five years. Still, I would credit two people the most, one is Sethi Saab (Najam Sethi, former PCB chairman) and the other Shahid Afridi. Rest, the entire team was of the view that we would not play with Amir. I will always be grateful to them,” said Amir who was banned for five years safer being proven guilty for spot-fixing in 2010. Amir, who has taken 259 wickets in 147 international games for Pakistan across the three formats, further said that he is being branded by the board and some of the players, even the bowling coach as someone to have committed some sin by opting to play white-ball cricket for the nation and quitting the red-ball format. “Now what has happened is, they want to taunt me for everything. Like when I made a personnel decision that I wanted to focus on white-ball cricket and leave the red ball, they branded it as if I never wanted to play for the country,” he said. “This is so irrational and illogical, Man, I started from leagues (the comeback) in Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), so if I just wanted to play leagues, I could have carried on doing that. But all I wanted to do was play for the country, give back to it as much as I could in White ball cricket,” Amir added saying that he would release a final statement once reaching Pakistan and discussing with the family.

news

Zimbabwe will host World Cup 2023 Qualifier in a new look qualification process

The International Cricket Council announced a new look qualification process for 2023 ODI over World Cup to be held in India in October- November 2023. The qualifiers, originally supposed to be held in India have now been moved to Zimbabwe and will take place between June 18 to July 9, 2023. Along with this decision, ICC also announced the process through which the qualification would be held. Among the 12 teams that are part of the Cricket World Cup Super League which began in May 2020, seven along with India will qualify directly on the basis of the points secured, the remaining four would go to a qualifier, In the qualifier, they would be joined by three Cricket World Cup League 2 teams, which would be decided after 21 tri-series events including 96 ODIS to be played among seven teams throughout the course of 2021, 2022, and early 2023. The four remaining teams from league 2 would get another shot at the qualifier when they would play the winners of the men's CWC Challenge League A and B which will be played in August and September next year. In League A, Canada will host Denmark, Malaysia, Qatar, Singapore, and Vanuatu in a total of 15 games. Challenge League B will be held in Jersey with Bermuda, Hong Kong, Italy, Kenya, and Uganda competing in 15 matches. In total over one year from August 2021 to September 2022, 60 games would be played in these two leagues which would have the status of List A. "After the 21 tri-series in League 2 have been completed, the top three teams will confirm their place in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023. The bottom four teams will drop into the Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier Play-Off 2023 - which is a repechage event to the Global Qualifier - and will be joined by the winner of Challenge League A and B,” an ICC release read. Saying that the rescheduling of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 from March April to October November gave the ICC a fair window to organize teh qualifiers, Chris Tetley, Head of Events of ICC added, “We have worked very closely with Members and stakeholders to reschedule 96 ODIs and 60 List-A matches and will continue to maintain the safety of participants in our events as our highest priority."