Cuttack: Odisha has been placed in Group B for 2012-13 Ranji Trophy Championship, which is scheduled to commence on November 2. The championship, featuring a total of 27 teams will be played according to a new format. The 27 teams have been divided into three groups. Three teams each from Group A, Group B and two from Group C will qualify for the knockout stage, which will be played in January 2013.

The 2012-13 domestic season will begin with the Irani Cup game between 2011-12 Ranji Trophy champions Rajasthan Rest of India at Jaipur from September 21 to 25, 2012. It will be followed by the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy and the Duleep Trophy in October 2012. The NKP Salve Challenger Trophy will feature 2011-12 Vijay Hazare Trophy winners Bengal and two other teams picked by the All-India Senior Selection Committee.

The fourth edition of the Raj Singh Dungarpur Corporate Trophy will be played after the Ranji Trophy final. The first three editions of the tournament had been played in September. The Corporate Trophy will be followed by the second Irani Cup game of the season, in which the 2012-13 Ranji Trophy winners will take on the Rest of India. Subsequent editions of the Irani Cup will be played after the Ranji Trophy final of the same season.

The season will end with the limited-overs tournaments – the Inter-State One-Day, the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the Deodhar Trophy and finally the Inter-State T20 League and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
The date-wise tournament schedule will be displayed in the BCCI website – www.bcci.tv – next week.

RANJI TROPHY GROUPINGS:
Group A: Rajasthan, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Madhya Pradesh, Saurashtra, Railways, Bengal, Punjab,  Gujarat
Group B: Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Baroda, Delhi, Vidarbha, Odisha
Group C: Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Services, Tripura, Goa, Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam