Ahmedabad as host for upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy starting on Jan 10, confirms BCCI

The BCCI, on Thursday, announced that the renovated Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad would serve as the venue for the knockout matches of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which will mark the start of the domestic season of 2020-21. The knock out matches of the T20 Championship will be held in Ahmedabad from January 20-31.

BCCI secretary Jay Shah has shared a circular with the secretaries of all state associations. In the letter, Shah has mentioned that all the 38 teams involved have been categorised into 6 Groups: 5 Elite Groups and 1 Plate Group. Besides Ahemdabad, the other venues of the six venues are Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Indore, Chennai and Vadodara which will host the league stage games.

"The BCCI will start the domestic season 2020-21 with the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament from January 10th 2021, onwards," the letter stated.

"The teams are required to assemble in their respective host cities on or before January 2, 2021, and will be needed to undergo COVID-19 testing procedures and quarantine in accordance with the



state regulatory authorities," it added.

While the one Plate Group comprises of eight teams and will have Chennai as their host, the remaining 30 state teams involved have been categorised into 5 Elite Groups, with each group comprising of six teams.

There will be 3 and 2 coronavirus tests, which the players have to take before the start of the tournament and before the knockout stage respectively

Groups: Elite Group A: Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Railways, Tripura (Venue – Bengaluru)

Elite Group B: Odisha, Bengal, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Hyderabad (Venue – Kolkata)

Elite Group C: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Baroda, Uttarakhand (Venue – Vadodara)

Elite Group D: Services, Saurashtra, Vidarbha, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Goa (Venue – Indore)

Elite Group E: Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Mumbai, Kerala, Puducherry (Venue – Mumbai)
Plate Group: Chandigarh, Meghalaya, Bihar, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh (Venue - Chennai).