Vijay Hazare Trophy to begin on 20th February: BCCI

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has confirmed the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the annual and premier domestic ODI tournament will be held from 20th February this year. This is the second tournament in a covid curtailed domestic season which saw the prestigious Ranji Trophy being cancelled for the first time since it’s inception 87 years go.

In a letter addressed to all state associations, the BCCI, while informing about that start of the tournament, also explained the further procedure for the scheduling of the tournament.

"The teams are required to assemble in their respective host cities on February 13 and will be needed to undergo Covid-19 testing procedure and Quarantine in accordance with the State regulatory authorities and the BCCI's SOPs," Cricbuzz quoted BCCI letter as saying.

Much like the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy which concluded recently, the players will go through a six-day quarantine after undergoing covid-19 tests scheduled for 13th February.

The teams have been divided into five Elite and one Plate group. The Elite groups have been stationed at Surat, Bangalore, Jaipur, Kolkata and Indore while the Plate group teams will be stationed at a city in Tamil Nadu which is yet to be named by the BCCI.

The venue for the Knockouts and Final has yet not been decided. The league stage starts from February 20 and run-up to March 1. The teams would then undergo another round of Tests before the Knockout stage begins on March 8. The Semi-Finals are scheduled for 11th March while the final would be played on 14th. Karnataka are the defending Champions of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Elite A (Surat): Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Hyderabad, Baroda and Goa

Elite B (Indore): Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Jharkhand, MP, Vidarbha and AP

Elite C (Bangalore): Karnataka, UP, Kerala, Odisha, Railways and Bihar

Elite D (Jaipur): Delhi, Mumbai, Maharashtra, HP, Rajasthan and Pondicherry

Elite E (Kolkata): Bengal, Services, J&K, Saurashtra, Haryana and Chandigarh

Plate (Tamil Nadu, city TBC): Uttarakhand, Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Sikkim

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Mohammed Shami resumes bowling, may comeback in D/N Test against England

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Don’t think half the English batsmen can play spin as well as Root: Ben Stokes

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19 so far: Shahbaz Nadeem explains Team India’s problems with 'No-Ball'

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BBL10 Final: In-Vinceble Sixers beat Scorchers to lift their third BBL title

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