The Ranji Trophy 2022 begins on February 17

Following a five-day quarantine, the first round of Ranji Trophy matches will begin on February 17, with the squad size, including staff members, constrained at 30 as the BCCI tries to host the 38-team tournament across nine distinct bio-bubbles amid the COVID-19 epidemic.

The BCCI has previously stated that the Ranji Trophy, which would be conducted after two years owing to the epidemic, will be staged in two stages, before and after the IPL.

The board sent “staging guidelines” to the nine host associations on Tuesday.

The five-page paper, which PTI has seen, indicates that each team can have a maximum of 30 individuals, including a minimum of 20 players, with a maximum of 10 support workers.

“20 players will be eligible for match fees (the playing XI will be eligible for 100%, while the remaining 9 will be eligible for 50%),” the criteria indicate, adding that each side will be given two Covid reserves.

The first-round match between reigning champions Saurashtra and Mumbai in Ahmedabad will be highly awaited, with Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane chosen to their respective sides.

Pujara was named to the Saurashtra squad on Tuesday, while Rahane was named to the Mumbai squad. Both veteran batters are in desperate need of huge runs, and a Ranji Trophy century might help them re-establish their Test careers. On February 10, all the teams will meet at their respective venues, after which the players will be subjected to a five-day quarantine.

The RT-PCR testing will take place on days two and five, leaving teams with two days of practice on February 15 and 16.

The pre-quarterfinal, which will be contested in the first phase, will be a five-day event beginning March 11. The teams that will compete in the lone round-of-16 match will be subjected to a four-day quarantine.

As previously stated, the second phase of the Ranji Trophy, consisting of quarterfinals, semi-finals, and the final, will begin on May 30.

The rules state that each team “is recommended to have a physician to deal with COVID-19 related concerns.” The BCCI has raised the match-day hosting charge to Rs 1.25 lakh. Previously, the full game cost Rs five lakh.

Thirty-two teams have been grouped into eight top groups of four, with a plate division of six teams.

The pre-quarterfinal will be held between the lowest-ranked qualifying team from each of the eight Elite Groups and the plate group winner. The first part will consist of 57 games, with the second phase consisting of seven games.

The host cities are Rajkot, Cuttack, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Delhi, Haryana, Guwahati, and Kolkata.