The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced six venues for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament scheduled to begin from January 10 in a bio-secure bubble.

Bangalore, Vadodara, Indore, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai will be hosting 38 teams during the tournament.

The refurbished Sardar Patel Stadium (Motera) in Ahmedabad will host the knock-out matches. Defending champions Karnataka will play the first game of the event against Jammu & Kashmir on January 10.

All players and support staff will have to go through three rounds of COVID-19 tests on January 2, 4 and 6 before attending the practice session from January 8.

The teams have been divided into six Groups five Elite Groups and one Plate Group with Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Indore, Chennai and Vadodara being the venues for league games.

"The BCCI will start the domestic season 2020-21 with the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament from January 10th 2021, onwards," Shah stated in the letter, a copy of which is in possession of PTI.

"The teams are required to assemble in their respective host cities on or before January 2, 2021, and will be needed to undergo COVID-19 testing procedures and quarantine in accordance with the state regulatory authorities," Shah said.

Chennai will be hosting the matches of the Plate Group, which comprises eight teams. 

The knock-outs are scheduled to start on January 26, with the quarter-finals to be played on January 26 and 27, while the two semi-finals will be played on January 29 and the final on January 31 in Ahmedabad, reports PTI 

Even before the knock-outs, the players will be undergoing two COVID-19 tests, one on January 20 and the other on January 22. 

Elite A: Venue- Bangalore

Teams: Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Railways and Tripura

Elite B: Venue- Kolkata

Teams: Odisha, Bengal, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Hyderabad

Elite C: Venue- Vadodara

Teams: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Baroda and Uttarakhand

Elite D: Venue- Indore

Teams: Services, Saurashtra, Vidarbha, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Goa

Elite E: Venue- Mumbai

Teams: Haryana, Andhra, Delhi, Mumbai, Kerala and Puducherry

Plate: Venue- Chennai

Teams: Chandigarh, Meghalaya, Bihar, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh