Ranji Trophy 2016-17 schedule and groups announced

After much talk and speculation, it has been decided that all of the Ranji Trophy 2016-17 matches will indeed be played at neutral venues. The decision comes following several sides as well as pundits raising complaints with regard to the home advantage some of the teams have over several other sides in the tournament. Thus, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has taken the executive decision to host all matches on neutral venues.

With the 2016/17 edition of the Duleep Trophy being played in Greater Noida and with a pink ball under floodlights, the BCCI seems destined to create history by tweaking the Ranji Trophy as well. This arrangement has not taken place since the evolution of the tournament almost 83 years ago.

Group A boasts of current champions Mumbai who will be joined by Baroda, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu. These three teams will pose a threat to the incumbent champions with Uttar Pradesh and Bengal proving to be those with somewhat of an outside chance of clinching a win or perhaps even causing an unlikely upset.

The Karnataka team that had a dismal outing in the previous edition of the competition find themselves in Group B along with the likes of Odisha and Delhi who are more than capable of causing an upset. However, with the new restrictions as well as the new rules in place, it seems clear that there will be little or no problem with the conditions this time around. In a nutshell, this is expected to create more competition in the league.

Also read – Broadcasters fear no Indo-Pak clash in the 2019 Cricket World Cup

The 83rd edition of Ranji Trophy will start from October 6. The quarter-finals will be played between December 17-21. The semi-final of the tournament will be played from the 27th to the 31st of December with the final expected to be played from the 7th of January to the 11th of the month.

Ranji Trophy 2016-17 groups:

Group A: Mumbai, Baroda, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Bengal, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Railways, Uttar Pradesh

Group B: Saurashtra, Odisha, Delhi, Maharashtra, Assam, Vidarbha, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Jharkhand

Group C: Hyderabad, Haryana, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, Services, Goa, J&K, Andhra, Chhattisgarh