Bigger, no doubt, with 37 teams in action. But exactly what is the purpose of doing this drill? That's the big question that has little answers as the 85th edition of the Ranji Trophy starts on Thursday across 4 groups with 17 games in Round 1. The BCCI has done its best to ensure that domestic cricket has little chance to flourish ---- with Test teams for Australia and A team for New Zealand already announced, an ODI and T20 series against West Indies going simultaneously and then resting maximum players who are otherwise available to keep them fresh. So, Ranji Trophy begins with players having no incentives, and associations grappling with their own administrative mess.
Here's a sneak peek into Ranji Trophy 2018-19:
Ranji Trophy Round 1 schedule:
Group A
Baroda vs Gujarat in Vadodara
Maharashtra vs Vidarbha in Pune
Railways vs Mumbai in Delhi
Saurashtra vs Chhattisgarh in Rajkot
Group B
Andhra vs Punjab in Vizag
Himachal Pradesh vs Bengal in Nadaun
Kerala vs Hyderabad in Thiruvananthapuram
Tamil Nadu vs Madhya Pradesh in Dindigul
Group C
Jharkhand vs Assam in Ranchi
Odisha vs Haryana in Bhubaneswar
Rajasthan vs Jammu and Kashmir in Jaipur
Tripura vs Services in Agartala
Uttar Pradesh vs Goa in Kanpur
Plate
Manipur vs Sikkim in Kolkata
Meghalaya vs Arunachal Pradesh in Shillong
Nagaland vs Mizoram in Dimapur
Uttarakhand vs Bihar in Dehradun
Missing in Action: BCCI has advised that Rajneesh Gurbani, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini and Mohammad Siraj will not play the first round of the Ranji Trophy, beginning Thursday with the aim of managing their workload. The four players are part of the India A team which will leave for New Zealand on November 9 for three four-day games.
Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh are not part of Punjab Ranji side, neither is Ajinkya Rahane and Prithvi Shaw for Mumbai. Shaw is still recovering from his injury on his left shoulder and elbow, while Rahane is preparing for the New Zealand and Australia tour. Ditto for Mohammad Shami.
Star Trek: Undoubtedly, Tamil Nadu squad looks the most star-studded with R Ashwin, Murali Vijay, Abhinav Mukund and Vijay Shankar turning out under the captaincy of Baba Indrajith. Suresh Raina will be turning out for UP while Parthiv Patel, Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari will be in action as well.
Irfan Pathan will figure in a Ranji game after 12 months, playing and mentoring the Jammu and Kashmir team. Irfan last played in October 2017 before getting axed from the Baroda side due to form and fitness, and later ran into problems with the association officials.
And then, there's Abhishek Nayar, who will play his 100th First Class game, albeit for his new team --- Puducherry, which is making its Ranji debut.
What's new: Bihar is set to make his Ranji Trophy return after 18 years even as nine teams make their debut this season, that is set to feature record 37 teams.
Nagaland is all set to host four Ranji Trophy matches from November 1 at the Nagaland Cricket Stadium, Sovima in Dimapur. The first game will be played against Mizoram. Shillong will similarly also make its Ranji venue debut, though the last Ranji game played here was when Meghalaya was part of Assam, way back in 1948.
Also, talking about the coaches, Arun Lal has replaced Sairaj Bahutule at the helm and will be the Bengal mentor in one of the major changes.