Ranji Trophy 2021-22: Teams, squads, fixtures, match timings and all you need to know about knockouts

The 2021/22 season of the prestigious Ranji Trophy tournament is approaching its business end, with the quarter-finals slated to begin from Monday, 6 June. All the knockout games, including the semi-finals and final, will be played across different venues in Karnataka. The final is scheduled for 22 June at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium. The defending champions of the Ranji Trophy are Saurashtra, who won the 2019-20 edition by beating Bengal in the final. The 2020-21 edition was not held due to COVID-19 pandemic. Saurashtra, however, have failed to make it to the quarter-finals this time after finishing second in Elite Group D, which was not enough to advance. [caption id=“attachment_8689041” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] File image of the Ranji Trophy. Image credit: BCCI[/caption] With the Ranji Trophy entering its most exciting phase, we bring to you key information regarding the knockout stages, starting with the qualified teams: Which are the eight teams in the Ranji Trophy 2021-22 quarter-finals? The group winners of seven Elite groups – Madhya Pradesh, Bengal, Karnataka, Mumbai, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh have qualified automatically for the quarter-finals. Jharkhand is the eighth team, having beaten Plate group winners Nagaland in a pre-quarterfinal clash. What are the venues for the knockout stage? The Ranji Trophy knockout games will be held across five venues — M Chinnaswamy Stadium (Final), Just Cricket Academy Ground (Bengaluru), KSCA Cricket Ground, Alur, KSCA Cricket (2) Ground, Alur, KSCA Cricket (3) Ground, Alur. What are the Ranji Trophy knockout fixtures? The Ranji Trophy knockout fixtures are as follows: Quarter-finals (All matches 6-10 June, Matches start at 9.30 am IST) QF1: Bengal vs Jharkhand at Just Cricket Academy, Bengaluru QF2: Mumbai vs Uttarakhand at KSCA Cricket (2) Ground, Alur QF3: Karnataka vs Uttar Pradesh at KSCA Cricket Ground, Alur QF4: Punjab vs Madhya Pradesh at KSCA Cricket (3) Ground, Alur Semi-finals (All matches 14-18 June, Matches start at 9.30 am IST) SF1: QF1 Winner vs QF4 Winner at KSCA Cricket Ground, Alur SF2: QF2 Winner vs QF3 Winner at Just Cricket Academy Ground, Bengaluru Final (22-26 June, Match starts at 9.30 am IST) SF Winner 1 vs SF Winner 2 at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru What are the squads of all eight teams? Bengal: Abhimanyu Easwaran (Captain), Manoj Tiwary, Mohammad Shami, Anustup Majumdar, Sudip Chatterjee, Shahbaz Ahmed, Abhishek Kumar Raman, Writtick Chatterjee, Sayan Shekhar Mandal, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Ishan Porel, Koushik Ghosh, Ritwik Roy Chowdhury, Pradipta Pramanik, Karan Lal, Nilkantha Das, Sudip Kr. Gharami, Abhishek Porel, Mohd. Kaif, Ankit Mishra Mumbai: Prithvi Shaw (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Bhupen Lalwani, Arman Jaffer , Sarfaraz Khan, Suved Parkar, Aakarshit Gomel, Aditya Tare, Hardik Tamore, Aman Khan, Sairaj Patil, Shams Mulani, Dhrumil Matkar, Tanush Kotian, Shashank Attarde, Dhaval Kulkarni ,Tushar Deshpande, Mohit Awasthi , Roystan Dias, Siddharth Raut and Musheer Khan. Karnataka: Manish Pandey (C), Samarth R (VC), Mayank Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, Karun Nair, Siddharth KV, Nischal D, Sharath Srinivas (WK), Sharath B R (WK), Shreyas Gopal, Gowtham K, Shubhang Hegde, Suchith J, Cariappa KC, Ronit More, Koushik V, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Venkatesh M, Vidwath Kaverappa, Kishan S Bedare. Punjab, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Madhya Padesh and Uttar Pradesh squads are yet to be announced. Will there be spectators allowed inside stadiums? The knockout matches will be played inside a bio-bubble and as per a BCCI press release, fans won’t be allowed into the stadiums. “The presence of spectators is prohibited as part of the regulations set out by the State and Health Regulatory Authorities under the bio secure protocol,” stated the BCCI release. Where can I watch the matches LIVE? The Ranji Trophy 2021-22 knockout stage matches will be telecast across the Star Sports Network, with LIVE streaming of the matches available on Disney + Hotstar. Read all the  Latest News ****,  Trending News ****,  Cricket News ****,  Bollywood News ****,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook****,  Twitter and  Instagram****.