The Ranji Trophy knockouts have been pushed back by two days, with the quarterfinals now set to begin in Bengaluru on June 6. As a result, the final will be played at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium from June 22 to 26.
Jay Shah, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary, communicated the revised itinerary, along with ground allotment and telecast arrangement details, to the BCCI affiliates in an email on Saturday.
While the email, accessed by The Hindu, doesn’t specify the reason for deferring the knockouts, it is understood that the unavailability of the Chinnaswamy Stadium before June 22 for the final was the main reason for the postponement.
India and South Africa are scheduled to play a T20I at the international cricket venue in Bengaluru on June 19. As a result, the final could not be played at the Chinnaswamy from June 20, as announced on Thursday.
Once it was pointed out to the BCCI hierarchy by its executives, the knockout stage was deferred by two days. The revised schedule is in sync with the provisional programme that was shared internally in the BCCI before the commencement of the league stage in February. The BCCI guidelines for the staging association also specify that spectators will not be allowed. The final will thus be played with only invitees in attendance.
The eight teams that will feature in the quarterfinals will have no reason to complain since they will get additional two days to train before arriving in Bengaluru on June 3. Four of the eight teams - Karnataka, Mumbai, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh - have multiple players featuring in the Indian Premier League.
With the IPL final scheduled on May 29, the additional two days will mean the IPL cricketers will get two more days to switch to First Class mode.
The schedule
Quarterfinals: June 6-10; Semifinals: June 14-18; Final: June 22-26.
The draw
First quarterfinal: Bengal vs Jharkhand at Just Cricket Academy
Second quarterfinal: Mumbai vs Uttarakhand at Alur 2
Third quarterfinal: Karnataka vs Uttar Pradesh at Alur 1
Fourth quarterfinal: Punjab vs Madhya Pradesh at Alur 3
First semifinal: Winner of QF 1 vs Winner of QF 4
Second semifinal: Winner of QF 2 vs Winner of QF 3
Final: Winner of SF1 vs Winner of SF2
