Ranji Trophy begins on January 13, SMAT to be played in November
The Board of Control for Cricket in India intimated to the state associations about the upcoming domestic season and stated that the premier tournament, Ranji Trophy would be played from January 13 at six centres with one centre allocated for each of the six groups. As per reports, the Ranji Trophy centres selected are Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Trivandrum and Chennai. Kolkata has been selected to host the Knockouts which comprise four quarterfinals, two semis and a final slated to begin on March 16. All the knockout games would be five-day affairs. The interesting thing about this time’s grouping is that no team gets to play its matches at its home turf until and unless Bengla makes it to the Knockouts. Ranji Trophy Groupings Elite A: Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal, Madhya Pradesh, Services and Assam (in Mumbai) Elite B: Bengal, Vidarbha, Rajasthan, Kerala, Haryana and Tripura (in Bangalore) Elite C: Karnataka, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand (in Kolkata) Elite D: Saurashtra, Tamil Nadu, Railways, J & K, Jharkhand and Goa (in Ahmedabad) Elite E: Andhra, Uttar Pradesh, Baroda, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Pondicherry (in Trivandrum) Plate: Chandigarh, Meghalaya, Bihar, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Arunachal (in Chennai) The board also informed states that the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the regional T20 tournament will be played between November 04 and 22 with the Knockouts being hosted in Delhi. The six centres chosen for its group stage games are Lucknow, Guwahati, Baroda, Delhi, Haryana and Vijayawada. There is no intimation about the formation of groups for the SMAT thus far. Vijay Hazare Trophy, the third premium tournament of the Indian domestic calendar will be held from December 8 to 27. The vines and groups of this tournament are yet to be announced. The newly developed Men’s State A one-day competition, remodelled from its previous version of the U-23 ODI tournament will begin from November 20 and will go on until December 10 with the Knockouts played in Bangalore. The group stage matches of this tournament will be played in Rajkot, Pondicherry, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mohali and Guwahati. Men's Under-25 four-day championship for the CK Nayudu Trophy, another remodelled competition from the Men’s U-23 four day is scheduled to begin from January 28 and will be played till March 31 with the Knockouts being held in Vijaywada. The group stage matches of this competition will be held in Nagpur, Hyderabad, Vijaywada, Mohali, Jaipur and Ranchi. While these are the major competitions, the domestic season kicks off with the Women’s U-19 ODI Championship and Men’s U-19 Vinoo Mankad Trophy. While Rajkot, Nagpur, Vizag, Surat, Jaipur and Bhubaneswar are being considered for the women's competition, Men’s competition is likely to be played in Mohali, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Indore and Ranchi. Surat and Ahmedabad are being considered as the hots for the Knockouts of both women's and men's under-19 respectively. The tournaments will start from September 20 and will be played for 29 days to end on October 18. The grouping for this tournament is different as only 36 teams take part in it and each group plate or elite will have six teams each with the five plate teams directly making it to the quarterfinal and the second-placed teams from each Elite Group and the winners of the Plate Group playing three pre-quarter-finals to decide the Quarter-Finals lineup. Men's Under-19 groupings Elite A: Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Andhra, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Odisha (in Mohali) Elite B: MP, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh (in Delhi) Elite C: Mumbai, Hyderabad, Team Rajasthan, Tripura, Assam and Goa (in Ahmedabad) Elite D: Haryana, Punjab, Bengal, Baroda, Kerala and Uttarakhand (in Hyderabad) Elite E: Karnataka, Jharkhand, Vidarbha, Saurashtra, J& K and Pondicherry (in Indore) Plate: Nagaland, Arunachal, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Manipur (in Ranchi) Women's Under-19 groupings Elite A: UP, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Assam, Gujarat and Vidarbha (in Rajkot) Elite B: Delhi, Goa, Bengal, Pondicherry, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu (in Nagpur) Elite C: MP, Kerala, Baroda, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Bihar (in Vizag) Elite D: Andhra, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Saurashtra and Chandigarh (in Surat) Elite E: Punjab, Odisha, Himachal, Karnataka, Tripura and Mizoram (in Jaipur) Plate: Nagaland, Manipur, Sikkim, Meghalaya, J & K and Arunachal Pradesh (in Bhubaneswar)