Ranji Trophy 2021-22: Bengaluru to host knockouts from June 4, finals to be held from June 20

The Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru is set to host the knockout stages of the Ranji Trophy 2021-22 season and the tournament will resume from the 4th of June. The group stages of the tournament and a pre-quarter-final had taken place before the start of the IPL 2022 and Bengal, Jharkhand, Mumbai, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh were the eight teams to qualify for the knockout stages.

Recently, a BCCI source official revealed that the players will not be in the bio bubble for the upcoming international assignments but it will not be the case for the Ranji Trophy players. Although there will be no mandatory quarantine, all teams will have to arrive with a negative RT-PCR test and the finals of the tournament will take place in a bio bubble.

The most successful Ranji trophy side Mumbai (Bombay earlier) will face Uttarakhand while Karnataka is scheduled to play against Uttar Pradesh. Bengal will face Jharkhand while Punjab will get to face Madhya Pradesh in the other two quarter-finals. The first and second semi-finals will take place on June 12 while the finals are scheduled to take place from June 20-24.

Ranji Trophy schedule

June 4-8, First quarter-final: Bengal vs Jharkhand

June 4-8, Second quarter-final: Mumbai vs Uttarakhand

June 4-8, Third quarter-final: Karnataka vs UP

June 4-8, Fourth quarter-final: Punjab vs MP

June 12-16, First semi: Winner of QF1 vs QF4

June 12-16, Second semi: Winner of QF2 vs QF3

June 20-24: Final

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic situation, the Ranji Trophy 2020-21 season was cancelled for the first time in the history of the tournament and finally, it was brought back into place in the 2021-22 season in a tight schedule after two years. Although fans weren’t allowed to enter the stadium, the popularity of the tournament across India has been immense over the years.

Bengal and Saurashtra were the finalists of the previous Ranji Trophy edition and Saurashtra went on to win the encounter by taking a crucial lead in the first innings.