Vijay Hazare Trophy 2020-21 Scheduled Between February 20 And March 14

The Vijay Hazare Trophy 2020-21 is set to take place between February 20 and March 14 as announced by BCCI after the successful completion of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Karnataka who crashed out early in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2020-2021 is the defending champions of the domestic 50-over tournament in India named after former Indian cricketer Vijay Hazare.

The tournament has a big viewership in India and has been a very successful one over the years. Tamil Nadu team was the runners-up in the last edition who managed to win the recently finished Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and they will start as one of the strong favourites. After all the pandemic restrictions and protocols, India has been going through, this will be a big relief for the cricket fans in India.

Teams Split Into Six Groups

The 38 teams that will take part in the Vijay Hazare Trophy have been split into six groups. The first five groups are the elite group consisting of six teams in each group and the remaining one is the plate group consisting of eight teams in their group. The Elite Groups A, B, C, D, and E will play in Surat, Indore, Bangalore, Jaipur, and Kolkata respectively while the plate group will play their games in different locations of Tamil Nadu.

The COVID-19 protocols will be strictly followed as the players have to assemble in the location a week before the start of the tournament which is February 13. The players will undergo quarantine and there will be three COVID-19 tests on February 13,15 and 17 while the practice session will be held on February 18 and February 19. The league phase of the Vijay Hazare Trophy is scheduled to take place from February 20 until March 1.

BCCI Announces Dates For the Knockout Stages

The knockout stages will start with a pre-quarterfinal on March 7 followed by quarterfinals on March 8 and March 9. The semifinals will be taking place on March 11 and the final will be held on March 14. The venues for the knockouts have not yet been announced by BCCI while the teams qualifying for the knockouts have to undergo another two COVID-19 tests on March 2 and March 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

The crowd factor in the Vijay Hazare trophy is a big concern and not yet announced by BCCI if they will allow a certain amount of fans for the matches.