BCCI announces 2021-2022 Domestic Cricket Calendar

[Himanshu]

The BCCI announced on Saturday that it would hold all 2127-match domestic tournaments, including for the various age groups and the women.

• The first tournament of the season will be the Senior Women’s One Day League starting on September 21.

• While the men’s season beginning with the T20 format in the form of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, from October 20 to November 12. The Mushtaq Ali tournament will run in parallel with the 2021 men’s T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in the UAE and Oman from October 17 to November 14.

• The Ranji Trophy will start four days after that. Ranji Trophy will be part of a full 2127-match domestic calendar for the coming season. It has been slotted into a three-month window, from November 16, 2021 to February 19, 2022.

• The 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy will follow the Ranji Trophy’s conclusion, beginning four days after the Ranji Trophy is scheduled to end. The Vijay Hazare will run from February 23 to March 26.

The BCCI is likely to expand the IPL from the 2022 season, and a mega auction is expected to take place, possibly in December, after the Mushtaq Ali tournament is over.

[Himanshu]

The Ranji Trophy will return to the Indian domestic calendar for the 2021-22 season after a Covid-19-induced cancellation in 2020-21. Saurashtra beat Bengal in the final of the 2019-20 edition of Ranji Trophy, which concluded just before the pandemic hit, for their first title.

It was the first time the Ranji Trophy had not been played since its inception in 1934-35, with the tournament having taken place even during World War II.

[Parthiv]

No Irani Cup, Duleep Trophy, and Deodhar Trophy in the upcoming domestic season for the 2021-22 season.

Former chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar expressed shock at BCCI’s decision:

"It’s shocking that the BCCI has not scheduled the Irani Cup, Duleep Trophy, and Deodhar Trophy tournaments in the calendar in the forthcoming season. It’s important for the board to invest in domestic cricket and must pay full attention to it,”

“The BCCI can stage these tournaments, which are of tremendous importance in the domestic calendar, in August-September in Bangalore. Just because some players will be busy with the IPL, it doesn’t mean that the remaining domestic cricketers should be left twiddling their thumbs at home. Many domestic players, who don’t play in the IPL but are regular, senior players in their state sides will get the opportunity to play in these tournaments,” he added.

[Hemant]

There is no first-class cricket on the cards for the women either, who are back playing the format after a gap of almost seven years.

[Hemant]

There will be 38 teams in the men’s senior, as there have been for the past two years.

There will be three Elite Groups in the Ranji Trophy and the Vijay Hazare Trophy - A, B and C - and the Plate Group. Groups A and B will have nine teams each, while Group C and the Plate Group will have ten teams each in both competitions.

The Mushtaq Ali Trophy will have five groups: A, B, C, D and E. Groups A and B will each have seven teams, with the other three comprising of eight teams each.

The BCCI is yet to release details of venues and other logistical matters for the season.

[Parthiv]

Schedule for Ranji Trophy 2022 announced, pre-IPL phase to start from February 10

The BCCI have announced their schedule for the upcoming domestic season of Ranji Trophy 2022 which will be held in two phases. The first phase which will take place before the IPL 2022 will take place between February 10 - March 15 while the post IPL phase will take place from May 30 to June 26. The Ranji Trophy this season would see 64 matches being played across 62 days.

In a letter sent out by BCCI secretary Jay Shah to all state-affiliated units, the details have been specified on how Ranji Trophy would be conducted this season.

“We have spread out the Ranji Trophy to 9 different venues across the country to mitigate any cross-transmission risk while ensuring the bio-secure bubble is not overburdened,” he added.

There are eight Elite Groups and one Plate Group. There would be four teams in Elite Groups and six teams would make up the Plate 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.

[Parthiv]

The Groups are as follows:

Elite Group A: Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, and Meghalaya (Matches to be held in Rajkot)

Elite Group B: Bengal, Baroda, Hyderabad, Chandigarh (Matches to be held in Cuttack)

Elite Group C: Karnataka, Railways, Jammu and Kashmir, Pondicherry (Matches to be held in Chennai)

Elite Group D: Saurashtra, Mumbai, Odisha, Goa (Matches to be held in Ahmedabad)

Group E (Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Services, and Uttarakhand), Group F (Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, and Tripura), Group G (Vidharbha, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Assam), and Group H (Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, and Chattisgarh) will see their matches being played in Trivandrum, Delhi, Haryana, and Guwahati.

While the Plate Group matches will be held in Kolkata and this group comprises Bihar, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh.

[Himanshu]

The Ranji Trophy is BACK!

Just 1⃣ Day Away From India’s Prestigious Domestic Tournament