BCCI announces schedule for first Women’s tournament post lockdown

The Board of control for Cricket in India has announced the schedule for the first women’s tournament post the lockdown. According to a letter shared by the BCCI Secretary office to all the affiliated associations, teams have been asked to assemble at their designated centres before the tournament to begin. 

According to the letter, the tournament much like the Men’s ODI tournament for the Vijay Hazare Trophy, this tournament will be also based out of various centres with each group stationed at one centre. 

There are a total of 27 teams in the tournament, one less than the Men’s tournament as the Services don’t have any women’s teams. The tournament will be held across six venues: Surat, Rajkot, Jaipur, Indore, Chennai and Bengaluru. 

All Teams are requested to assemble at their respective bases by March 4 and will undergo three covid-19 tests on March 4, 6 and 8. A negative report in all three would put them through to the bio-bubble. 

Bengal are the defending champions and are placed in Elite Group B alongside Railways, Saurashtra, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Assam. The top five teams from each elite groups would qualify for the quarterfinals while the two best second-placed teams across elite groups would also get through. The eighth team would be decided with a pre-quarterfinal between the third-best second-placed team and the top placed plate group team. 

While the quarterfinal will be held on March 29, and the semi-finals are scheduled for April 1 with the final taking place on April 4. 

The venues for the knockouts will be announced later.

Elite Group A: Jharkhand, Odisha, Hyderabad, Gujarat, Chhatisgarh, Tripura

Elite Group B: Railways, Bengal, Saurashtra, Haryana, Assam, Uttarakhand

Elite Group C: Andhra, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Goa, Chandigarh

Elite Group D: Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai, Kerala, Baroda, Punjab, Nagaland

Elite Group E: Karnataka, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Vidarbha, Meghalaya

Plate Group: Pondicherry, Jammu & Kashmir, Mizoram, Bihar, Manipur, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh