Amid the speculations over the fate of Ranji Trophy 2021-22, BCCI secretary Jay Shah last week confirmed that the premier First-Class tournament would be held in two phases.
Meanwhile, the latest report published in ANI suggests that the pre-Indian Premier League (IPL) phase would run from February 10 to March 15 while the post-IPL-phase would run from May 30 to June 26.
According to the report, Jay Shah sent out a letter to all state-affiliated units, detailing how the Ranji Trophy would be conducted this season.
The red-ball event would reportedly see 64 matches being played across 62 days.
"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 center-stage all over again," wrote Shah in his letter, which has been accessed by ANI.
"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.
The 2021-22 edition of the Ranji Trophy was originally slated to kick-off on January 13 but postponed due to rising COVID-19 cases in the country.
There are eight Elite Groups and one Plate Group for the Ranji Trophy. While four teams would feature in Elite Groups, six teams would make up the Plate Group.
Here are the Groups:
Elite A: Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Meghalaya (Venue: Rajkot)
Elite B: Bengal, Baroda, Hyderabad, Chandigarh (Venue: Cuttack)
Elite C: Karnataka, Jammu & Kashmir, Railways, Pondicherry (Venue: Chennai)
Elite D: Saurashtra, Mumbai, Odisha, Goa (Venue: Ahmedabad)
Elite E: Andhra, Rajasthan, Services, Uttarakhand (Venue: Trivandrum)
Elite F: Punjab, Himachal, Haryana, Tripura (Venue: Delhi)
Elite G: Vidarbha, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Assam (Venue: Haryana)
Elite H: Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh (Venue: Guwahati)
Plate Group: Bihar, Nagaland, Sikkim, Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal (Venue: Kolkata)
(With ANI inputs)
