Groups for 2017-18 Ranji season announced by BCCI

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the four groups for the forthcoming season of the Ranji Trophy. Previously, the teams were segregated into three groups and top three teams from Group A and B progressed into the quarterfinals, while only two teams from the other group made it to the next round.

In the upcoming edition of the Ranji season, twenty-eight teams are divided into four groups of seven teams. The top two teams would progress into the quarter finals.The other change in the system is the home and away format which the board welcomed back after players and state associations expressed their disappointment over the neutral venue concept.

Looking at all the pools, it is Group B which is the group of death as it features defending champions Gujarat along with semi-finalist from last year Jharkhand and quarter-finalists Haryana. The other teams in the Group are heavyweights such as Saurashtra, Kerala, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir.

The league matches would continue to be four-day affair while the knockouts would be five-day encounters. The tournament will commence on October 6th and conclude on the second of January 2018. The knockout stages will start from the first week of December after the league stages end on last week of November.

Semi Finals are scheduled to take place on December 17 while the finals start from December 29. With the new format, BCCI gives more opportunities to all the teams unlike on previous occasions where only two teams qualified from a group of 9-10 teams in the third pool.

Group A:

Karnataka, Delhi, Assam, Maharashtra, Hyderabad, Uttar Pradesh, Railways

Group B:

Jharkhand, Gujarat, Kerala, Saurashtra, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir

Group C:

Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Baroda, Tripura

Group D:

Himachal Pradesh, Vidarbha, Punjab, Bengal, Services, Goa, Chhattisgarh