Ranji Trophy kicks off on February 10; knockout stage between May 20-June 26 after IPL

Ranji Trophy 2021-22 to take place in two phases, starting from February 10.

Ranji Trophy kicks off on February 10; knockout and final after IPL 2022. (Photo: JaydevUnadkat/Instagram)

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on Friday announced their schedule for the upcoming domestic season of Ranji Trophy 2021-22 which will be held in two phases. Following the announcement of the schedule, the venue details for the matches have also been revealed.

First Phase: February 10 - March 15

The first phase of the tournament, or rather the league stage, will see 38 teams competing in 57 matches, between February 10 and March 15.

Knockout Stage: May 20 - June 26

The knockouts of Ranji trophy 2021-22 have been scheduled after the conclusion of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. The knockout stage will have seven matches between May 30 and June 26.

BCCI secretary Jay Shah, in a letter sent to members of the board, stated the details regarding the Ranji Trophy season, explaining how they are working on security protocols to organize a risk free red-ball domestic season.

"I am pleased to share that we are now truly set to resume both international and domestic cricket with full thrust. The coming months are going to be replete with cricketing action. We have waited patiently for the grip of the pandemic to loosen and the time has come for our cricketers to take centrestage all over again," wrote Shah in his letter, which has been accessed by ANI.

"We have spread out the Ranji Trophy to nine different venues across the country to mitigate any cross-transmission risk while ensuring the biosecure bubble is not overburdened," he added.

There will be eight Elite Groups and one Plate Group. There would be four teams each in the Elite Groups and six teams will be there in the Plate Group. Each team in the Plate Group will play against only three sides from their group.

One team from each Elite Group will qualify for the quarterfinal stages. The lowest-ranked of the eight qualified teams will have to play a pre-quarterfinal with the top team from the Plate Group.

The Elite Group games will be held across Rajkot, Cuttack, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Trivandrum, Delhi, Haryana and Guwahati, while all the Plate group matches will take place in Kolkata.

Overall, 64 matches will be played in 62 days during the tournament, with 57 matches scheduled to be held in the first phase while the second phase will have seven knockout matches with four quarter-finals, two semi-finals and a final.

Read More: Ranji Trophy 2021-22 to be held in two phases with league phase in Feb-March and knockouts in June

The Elite Groups are divided as follows:

Elite Group A at Rajkot: Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Meghalaya.

Elite Group B at Cuttack: Bengal, Baroda, Hyderabad, Chandigarh.

Elite Group C at Chennai: Karnataka, Railways, Jammu & Kashmir, Pondicherry.

Elite Group D at Ahmedabad: Saurashtra, Mumbai, Odisha, Goa.

Elite Group E at Thiruvananthapuram: Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Services, Uttarakhand.

Elite Group F at Delhi: Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Tripura.

Elite Group G at Haryana (Gurugram and Rohtak): Vidarbha, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Assam.

Elite Group H at Guwahati: Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh.

Plate Group at Kolkata: Bihar, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh.

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