BCCI Domestic Cricket Schedule: The highly-anticipated India’s domestic season is all set to kick from September 20. Vinoo Mankad Trophy and Women’s Under-19 One Day tournaments will mark the beginning of the BCCI’s domestic season. The tournaments will be played from September 20 to October 19. Meanwhile, the Ranji Trophy has been scheduled from January 5 to March 20. Last year, all these three tournaments could not be held due to the COVID situation in the country.
“The pandemic has been tough on all of us, we have all had to make some hard decisions that have kept us from playing a full-fledged domestic cricket season in India. On behalf of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), we thank all our state associations, administrators, match officials, coaches, and athletes, for their patience and understanding,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah told the state units in a letter as seen by Cricbuzz.
“The restart date for BCCI Domestic Cricket Season 2021-22 has been reviewed with all stakeholders, as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic develops and we work together through this very challenging time,” Shah added.
BCCI Domestic Cricket schedule: Meanwhile, Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 Trophy will be held from October 27 to November 22. The Vijay Hazare Trophy (50-over format) will be staged from December 1 to 29. Introduction of Inter-state A competition for Under 25 men is the new feature added to the upcoming season. It replaces the hitherto Under-23 championship. The cricket board also cleared air on uncertainty regarding U-18 tournaments. The tournament is expected to take place in November-December. However, vaccination programs of the specified age category are yet to begin in India.
The BCCI confirmed that a team can have a maximum squad size of 30 members with minimum 20 players. Accordingly, the number of support staff is capped at a total of 10. Each team is encouraged to have a team physician to manage COVID-related issues. The team physician is separate from the team physiotherapist and is inclusive of the 10-member support staff. As per TOI, the last date of inter-state transfer and registration of guest players will be 15-days prior to the start of the specific tournament.
Groupings
For the senior men’s tournaments (Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy), the 38 teams will be divided into six groups. There will be five Elite Groups with six teams each and one Plate group with eight teams.
For U-25 level, there will be five Elite Groups of six teams each and one Plate group of seven teams.
BCCI Domestic Cricket schedule: Ranji Trophy to start from January 5, senior cricket to start with Mushtaq Ali T20 from October 27
Women’s Under 19 (One-Day) –September 20 – October 18
2 Vinoo Mankad Trophy –September 20 – October 18
Men Challenger Trophy (U-19 ) –October 26 – November 9
Women Challenger Trophy (U-19) –October 25 – November 6
Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy –October 27 – November 22
Senior Women’s One-Day –October 20 – November 20
Men’s State A One-Day– November 9 – December 10
Vijay Hazare Trophy –December 1 – December 29
Senior Women’s Challenger Trophy –November 26 – December 8
Ranji Trophy –January 5 – March 20
Cooch Behar Trophy (Men’s U-19)– November 21 to February 2
CK Nayudu (Men 4-day, U-25)– January 6 – April 2
Senior Women’s T20 –February 20 to March 23
Vijay Merchant Trophy (Men U-16 ) –November-December
BCCI Domestic Cricket schedule: Ranji Trophy to start from January 5, senior cricket to start with Mushtaq Ali T20 from October 27
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(with PTI inputs)