Duleep Trophy to kickstart Indian cricket's domestic calendar for 2022/23

The prestigious Duleep Trophy to be held in a zonal format will mark the start of a fullfledged Indian domestic season 202223 said the Board of Control for Cricket in India BCCI on Monday The BCCI also said that Irani Cup too makes a return to the domestic calendar where over 1500 matches will be held from the first week of September 2022 till midMarch 2023The Duleep Trophy 8th September25th September will be contested between six zones North South Central West East and Northeast on a knockout basisThe two multiday tournaments will be followed by the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the Vijay Hazare Trophy The two whiteball tournaments will be contested between 38 teams split into three groups of 8 teams and two groups comprising 7 teams said the BCCI in an official statementIn Irani Cup to be held from October 1 to 5 the current Ranji Trophy champions of a season take on a Rest of India squad Duleep Trophy used to be contested between five zones in a knockout formatBut later on it became a threeteam affair with the top two sides advancing to the title clash after the end of the roundrobin stageDuleep Trophy was last held in the 201920 season while Irani Cup last took place in the 201819 season The Ranji Trophy was cancelled for the first time in 202021 season due to Covid19 pandemic while a truncated version of the tournament was held in the 202122 seasonBut now in the 202223 season it will revert back to its usual format to start from December 13 after the end of Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy October 11 to November 5 and Vijay Hazare Trophy November 12 to December 2The Ranji Trophy Indias 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 quarterfinalsAlso Read Nicholas Pooran admits West Indies were not good enough after 41 defeat to IndiaThe Plate Group will comprise 6 teams with 15 league matches and the top 4 will directly qualify for the semifinal while the bottom two will play against each other for the 5th6th place Both the Elite Group and Plate Group league matches will start on 13th December with the Plate League concluding on 29th January and the Elite group finishing on 20th February elaborated the BCCIIn the womens domestic cricket calendar due to the ICC Womens T20 World Cup scheduled to take place in South Africa in February 2023 the Senior Womens T20 Trophy will be the first competition starting on October 11 and concluding on November 5It will then be followed by the Senior Womens Interzonal T20 and T20 Challenger The 50over format will then take over with Senior Womens oneday Trophy and the interzonal oneday Both the Senior Womens Interzonal T20 and oneday have been reintroduced from this seasonThe BCCI has also brought back the 50overs Under16 tournament for women to be held for the first time since 2006The competition will help the girls get a feel of competitive cricket at a young age and help them make a smoother transition to the U19 level added the BCCISince South Africa will also host the inaugural ICC U19 Womens T20 World Cup in January 2023 the womens U19 T20 Trophy and Womens U19 T20 Challenger have been scheduled from October 1 to November 7This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever