The Phase II of Ranji Trophy 2021-22 nears as the teams have joined the bio-bubble and started their practice. The eight teams will be participating in the quarterfinals set to be played at Bengaluru starting on the 6th of June.
It was decided that in a pre-quarterfinal game, the Plate champion will play the last-place qualifier from the Elite group. The winner of this game will play in the quarter-finals alongside the winners of the other seven Elite groups. Hence, Bengal, Jharkhand, Mumbai, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh have qualified for the quarters.
The teams have reached their camps in Bangalore and have started practicing to compete against each other. Jharkhand will play against Bengal, Mumbai against Uttarakhand, Karnataka against Uttar Pradesh and Punjab will play against Madhya Pradesh respectively to lock their positions in the semis.
Ranji Trophy made a comeback after missing the calendar year 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first time since 1934-35 that the domestic did not feature in the year. What is interesting is that this is the first time Ranji Trophy is taking place in two phases wherein a shorter first phase with only 3 matches per team was played which is lesser than the usual routine. The season was divided in two so that the Indian Premier League could take place at its ideal time.
Since most of the teams have already won the Ranji Trophy, in the list of the qualified teams, it is only Mumbai and Karnataka who have won the trophy in the last decade. The rest of the teams are still in the race to win the tournament with Jharkhand & Uttarakhand trying to win their maiden trophy. The teams have performed well in the league phase and will try their best to outplay the big teams who are playing sans big names. Madhya Pradesh (earlier Holkar) had won their last tournament in 1953 while Punjab won it in the 1992-93 season. Since then only a few teams have dominated the domestic scenes and it is their players who have made it to the next level. The time is now that we need a new Ranji Trophy Champion and fresh players from underdog teams.
