CK Nayudu Trophy to begin from March 17

MUMBAI: The BCCI will conduct the CK Nayudu

Trophy

(for Under-25), which it had postponed due to a Covid-19 surge in January, from March 17 to May 1, a period which will also see IPL-2022 being held. This is the first time that the BCCI will conduct a domestic men’s tournament during the IPL.

In a letter (TOI has a copy) to all the state associations on Saturday, BCCI secretary Jay Shah wrote: “Dear all, as you are aware, the COVID-19 situation has had an impact on cricket. As the number of covid cases witnessed a steep surge, the BCCI postponed several domestic tournaments. The rising cases led to an indefinite postponement of our premier domestic tournament — the Ranji Trophy, along with the CK

Nayudu

and the Senior Women’s T20 League.

“As the impact of the pandemic reduced, the BCCI first up started the Ranji Trophy in a new format with eight Elite Groups of four teams each and a Plate Group of six teams. At this stage, we’ve successfully completed two rounds of the Ranji Trophy and mitigated the impact of COVID-19 on our premier domestic tournament. We’re now going ahead with the Col CK Nayudu Trophy.

The format will include eight Elite Groups of four teams each, and one Plate Group of five teams.

Groups

Elite A: Mumbai, Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Manipur.

Venue

: Pondicherry.

Elite B: Baroda, Saurashtra, Rajasthan, Bihar. Venue: Surat

Elite C: MP, Hyderabad, Jharkhand, Odisha. Venue: Trivandrum.

Elite D: Vidarbha, Maharashtra, Railways, Chandigarh. Venue: Indore.

Elite E: Gujarat, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Pondicherry. Venue: Rajkot

Elite F: Uttar Pradesh, Himachal, Kerala, Goa. Venue: Bangalore.

Elite G: Karnataka, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Haryana. Venue: Goa.

Elite H: Punjab, Bengal, J&K, Tripura. Venue: Delhi.

Plate: Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Arunachal. Venue: Cuttack.