Amid the ongoing coronavirus scare, BCCI has planned to truncate the senior player’s domestic season of this year. Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Ranji Trophy will only be conducted this year that means the Duleep Trophy, the Deodhar Trophy and the Vijay Hazare Trophy have been axed from the upcoming domestic season.
As per reports in Times of India, the domestic season will start from 19 November soon after the IPL 2020 in UAE, whose finale will be played on 10th November. The report also stated that National Cricket Academy head Rahul Dravid and IPL interim CEO Hemang Amin has drawn all the schedule keeping in mind the travelling restrictions all around the country.
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy will have a total of 109 games:
The 20-over domestic tournament, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which helps the IPL franchise to scout the talent will be held from 19th November to 2nd December. All 38 teams will be divided into six groups. Each group’s matches will be held on two grounds in a single city. A total of 109 games will be played- 40 less than the last season.
The first-class tournament, Ranji Trophy, will get underway from December 13, culminating on March 10. As per the tentative plans, the BCCI has decided to club the teams in five groups. Group A, B, C will consist of eight teams each, while Group D will comprise of either of six, seven or eight teams. All the north-east teams will be clubbed in Group E. A total of 136 matches will be played this season, and to avoid travelling, matches of each group will be played on four grounds in two cities.
As far as the promotion and demotion of the teams are concerned, the top three teams from D will move to group A, B and C while the bottom-placed teams in A, B and C will get relegated to group D. The side who finished at the bottom in Group D will be relegated to Group E while the top-ranked team in the latter will be promoted to the former.
BCCI to conduct full-fledged Junior-level and Women domestic tournaments:
The BCCI has also decided to conduct junior-level tournaments- the CK Nayudu Under-23 Trophy [from December 15 to March 09], Cooch Behar Trophy [from November 01 to January 22, 2021] and Vijay Merchant Trophy [November 01 to January 07, 2021].
As far as domestic women cricket is concerned, the BCCI is planning to hold a full-fledged season which includes- the One-Day League [March 17 to April 12, 2021], U-23 One-Day League [November 30-December 23], U-23 T20 League [January 27 to February 15], U-19 One-Day League [December 29-January 21] and U-19 T20 Trophy [February 21 to March 11].