Our very own Ranji Trophy to be revamped

The BCCI have taken a great step looking into and putting into practice the ideas given by two legends of Indian Cricket – Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble, a few months back.

Kumble and Ganguly had given recommendations of scrapping the elite and the plate division and instead, make it a three-tier competition, with 9 teams in each, 27 in total.

The cricket fraternity had welcomed the recommendations. The effectiveness with three tiers being formed is the huge boost the lesser competitive sides will get, that have throughout the last ten years been rendered peripheral. The existing 27 first class teams will be divided, regardless of its ranking in the circuit and hence, each team gets 8 shots a season. The changes will make the competition even and each team will play a few more matches. Teams will also be promoted and relegated according to their standings.

BCCI working has given a green signal to this proposed idea and will be in action, come 2^nd November.

Below are the three Groups of the Ranji Trophy 2012/13:

Group A: Rajasthan, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Madhya Pradesh, Saurashtra, Railways, Bengal, Punjab, Gujarat

Group B: Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Vidarbha, Delhi, Baroda, Odisha

Group C: Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Services, Tripura, Goa, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam.

While the premium domestic tournament in India begins on November 2^nd, the Finals will be held on January 26^th.

The other recommendations made by the Committee comprising of Kumble and Ganguly is still to receive a go ahead.