The schedule for India’s domestic season 2022–23 was released by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday, August 8. The season will begin in the first week of September 2022 and will last until mid-March 2024. The time the Ranji Trophy will have more than 1500 games.
“The prestigious Duleep Trophy will mark the start of a full-fledged season, which will also see a return of the Irani Cup. The Duleep Trophy (8th September-25th September) will be contested between six zones (North, South, Central, West, East and Northeast) on a knockout basis. The two multi-day tournaments will be followed by the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the Vijay Hazare Trophy. The two white-ball tournaments will be contested between 38 teams split into three groups of 8 teams and two groups comprising 7 teams,”
BCCI’s official release stated.
“The Ranji Trophy, India’s premier domestic tournament, will have two categories; 1) Elite and 2) Plate. The Elite Group will comprise 32 teams and will have 4 groups of 8 teams in a home and away format with each team playing 7 matches in the league stage. The top two teams from each of the four groups will directly qualify for the quarterfinals,”
BCCI added.
The Plate Group will have six teams and fifteen league games. The top four teams will advance directly to the Ranji Trophy semifinals, while the bottom two teams will compete for fifth and sixth place. League games for both the Elite Group and Plate Group will begin on December 13th, with the Elite Group’s season ending on February 20th and the Plate League’s on January 29th.
BCCI to conduct U-16 One Day tournament for the first time
The Senior Women’s T20 Trophy, which begins on October 11 and runs through November 5, is the first event on the women’s calendar because the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup is slated to take place in South Africa in February 2024. Followed by Women’s Interzonal T20 and T20 Challenger. Then the Senior Women’s One-Day Trophy and the inter-zonal One-Day tournament.
Both the Senior Women’s Interzonal T20 and one-day have been re-introduced this season. For the first time, the BCCI will conduct a one-day tournament for girls at the U-16 level. This will be a big boost to the young girls aiming for U-19 selection.
The first-ever ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup will be held in South Africa in January. Hence the dates for the women’s U19 T20 Trophy and women’s U19 T20 Challenger have been shifted. These tournaments will now happen from 1 October to 7 November.
