Vijay Hazare Trophy to begin from February 20

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are all set to organise Vijay Hazare Trophy from February 20. After delivering a successful Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the board is keen to employ the same protocols for the domestic one-day tournament. 

Five cities - Bengaluru, Jaipur, Indore, Surat and Kolkata - will host the elite group fixtures. Eight plate teams will battle it out at various grounds across Tamil Nadu. The teams are requested to join the respective bio-bubbles on February 13. According to the BCCI protocols, the players will undergo three rounds of RT-PCR tests. The league stage will be played from February 20 to March 1 followed by knockouts from 8 March.

“The teams are required to assemble in their respective host cities on February 13 and will be needed to undergo Covid-19 testing procedure and Quarantine in accordance with the State regulatory authorities and the BCCI’s SOPs.” - A mail sent to all the affiliated state cricket associations, as accessed by Cricbuzz, stated.

Groups 

Elite A: Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Hyderabad, Baroda and Goa. 

• Venue: Surat

Elite B: Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Jharkhand, MP, Vidarbha and AP

• Venue: Indore

Elite C: Karnataka, UP, Kerala, Odisha, Railways and Bihar. 

• Venue: Bengaluru

Elite D: Delhi, Mumbai, Maharashtra, HP, Rajasthan and Pondicherry.

• Venue: Jaipur

Elite E: Bengal, Services, J&K, Saurashtra, Haryana and Chandigarh.

• Venue: Kolkata

Plate group: Uttarakhand, Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Sikkim. 

• Venue: Tamil Nadu