Mumbai:
The upcoming Ranji Trophy matches will be played only during weekends and the gap between the fixtures will be four days after the third game, the BCCI announced on Tuesday.
BCCI's Tour Programme and Fixtures Committee met at the Cricket Centre here on Monday to finalise the domestic cricket schedule for the 2013-14 season.
The committee decided to implement the decisions taken by the Technical Committee in its previous meeting which included every team will play four home and four away games in the Ranji league phase.
"The Tour Programme and Fixtures Committee of the BCCI met at the Cricket Centre in Mumbai, on Monday, 1 July 2013, to finalise the domestic cricket schedule for the 2013-14 season. The detailed tournament schedule will be displayed on www.bcci.tv on Monday, 8 July 2013," said the release from BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel.
Other decisions of the Technical Committee will also be implemented during the upcoming Ranji Trophy season which include that Vijay Hazare Trophy matches at the knockout stage, and the Deodhar Trophy matches, will be played under lights; the under-25 matches will start a day after the Ranji matches so that players who are not part of the playing XI in the Ranji games can play the under-25 games.
There will be no bonus points in one-day games; SG Test balls will be used for Ranji Trophy and Under-25 matches; Under-16 and Under-19 matches will be played with SG Tournament Special balls; women's senior tournaments will be played on Elite and Plate group basis and the Ranji knockout games will be played at venues to be identified by the Ground and Pitches Committee, in consultation with the Chairman of the Technical Committee.
Apart from that, the Tour Programme and Fixtures Committee also divided the teams into three Pools which will have champions Mumbai drawn with Delhi and Punjab in Group 'A'.
Group A - Mumbai, Punjab, Gujarat, Delhi, Karnataka, Orissa, Haryana, Vidharbha and Jharkhand.
Group B - Saurashtra, Services, Uttar Pradesh, Railways, Baroda, Madhya Pradesh, Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.
Group C - Hyderabad, Maharashtra, Andhra, Assam, Kerala, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Tripura.
