BCCI announces nine new teams to play Ranji Trophy along with existing 28 for 2018-19
BCCI has announced that for the 2018-19 season, there will be nine new teams participating in the Ranji Trophy along with the existing 28. The announcement came on Wednesday as it was declared that Ranji Trophy would go back to Elite-Plate format with the nine newly added teams.
Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, Sikkim, and Uttarakhand are the nine new teams that have been added to the plate category. Rest of the 28 teams will be divided into group A, B and C as the Elites.
Toppers of the Plate category will earn a direct entry into the quarter-finals and will be named in Group C of the Elites for the next season. Similarly, toppers of Group C of the Elites will earn a position in Group A or B.
The knockouts for the Ranji Trophy will begin from January 15, while the one-off Irani Trophy will be conducted from February 11. It will be played in a
Expanding Women's domestic season, BCCI has introduced exclusive women T20 and one-day Challenger Trophy for senior women as well as Under-23 category. A T20 Challengers Trophy has been introduced for Women's Under-19 domestic cricket. Domestic senior women's T20 Challenger Trophy will start from August 13 while the one-day Challengers Trophy for the same will start from January 4, 2019.