Ranji Trophy league phase set to be held from 16 February to 5 March

New Delhi: The league stage of the Ranji Trophy is set to be held from 16 February to 5 March, as per a revised scheduled prepared by the BCCI. The BCCI were forced to postpone the premier domestic tournament due to rising COVID cases in the country. It was originally scheduled to start from 13 January. [caption id=“attachment_8689041” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] File image of the Ranji Trophy. Image credit: BCCI[/caption] The likely venues for the 38-team event are Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Trivandrum, Cuttack, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad and Rajkot. The format has been tweaked and there will be eight groups of four teams each with the plate group comprising six teams. No red ball cricket has taken place in India since the Ranji Trophy final in March 2020. Domestic cricketers, who were compensated for cancellation of Ranji Trophy last season, had expressed elation when BCCI secretary Jay Shah announced last week that the red ball event will be held in two phases. The knockouts will be held in June.