Vijay Hazare Trophy 2020-21 to take place between February 20 and March 14
The Vijay Hazare Trophy, the domestic one-day competition in India, will take place from February 20 to March 14.
The teams have been split into six groups, Elite A, B, C, D and E and the Plate Group. All of the Elite groups' games will take place in a single location. The Elite Groups will play in Surat, Indore, Bangalore, Jaipur and Kolkata respectively, while the Plate Group's games will be held across different locations in Tamil Nadu. The Elite groups have six teams each, while the Plate Group has eight teams.
Last year's champions Karnataka are in Group C, while runners up Tamil Nadu - also this year's Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy champions - are in Group B. Past champions Delhi and Mumbai are both in Group D.
The BCCI's Covid-19 protocols will include teams assembling in their respective cities a week before the start of the tournament, on February 13. They will then need to undergo Covid-19 testing procedures and quarantine in accordance with the state's regulations and BCCI's own process. That includes three Covid tests, on February 13, 15 and 17, with practice allowed on February 18 and 19.
The league phase will run from February 20 till March 1.
The BCCI has not specified the venues for the knockout matches, which will have one pre-quarterfinal on March 7, followed by the quarter-finals on March 8 and 9. Both semi-finals will take place on March 11, with the final on March 14.
The teams that qualify for the knockouts will undergo two further Covid-19 tests, on March 2 and 4.
Vijay Hazare Trophy 2020-21 Groups:
Elite A: Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Hyderabad, Tripura, Baroda, Goa.
Venue: Surat
Elite B: Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Andhra Pradesh.
Venue: Indore
Elite C: Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Odisha, Railways, Bihar.
Venue: Bangalore
Elite D: Delhi, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Pondicherry.
Venue: Jaipur
Elite E: Bengal, Services, Jammu & Kashmir, Saurashtra, Haryana, Chandigarh.
Venue: Kolkata
Plate Group: Uttarakhand, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Sikkim.
Venue: Tamil Nadu