Ranji Trophy to be played in two phases from February 10 to June 26

Ranji Trophy, India's premier domestic competition, is set to played in two phases across nine venues, according to the schedule released by BCCI. The first phase is set to begin on February 10 and played until March 15 while the second phase will be held from May 30 to June 26.

A total number of 64 matches will be played across Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Rajkot, Delhi, Guwahati, Cuttack, Trivandrum, Chennai and Haryana over a period of 62 days.

The 38 teams have been divided into eight Elite groups of four teams each and one plate group of six teams with all the matches set to be played on neutral venues. Kolkata will host the Plate group games alongside the knockout phase beginning after the end of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022.

The Indian domestic season was halted in January due to the rise in number of cases of the Omnicron variant with major cities imposing partial lockdowns. Ranji Trophy will now conducted on either side of the franchise league tournament scheduled in between March end and May end.

Here are the Ranji Trophy groups (venue for group matches):

Elite A (Rajkot) : Gujarat, MP, Kerala, Meghalaya

Elite B (Cuttack): Bengal, Baroda, Hyderabad, Chandigarh

Elite C  (Chennai): Karnataka, Railways, Jammu and Kashmir, Pondicherry

Elite D (Ahmedabad): Saurashtra, Mumbai, Odisha, Goa

Elite E  (Trivandrum): Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Services, Uttarakhand

Elite F (Delhi): Punjab, HP, Haryana, Tripura

Elite G (Haryana): Vidarbha, UP, Maharashtra, Assam

Elite H (Guwahati): Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh

Plate (Kolkata): Bihar, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh