The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Railways drawn in Group `A'

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Wednesday, Jul 27, 2005

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Sport - Cricket

Railways drawn in Group `A'

Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI: National champion Railways will play five of the seven league matches at home in the 2005-06 Ranji Trophy cricket championship. Railways has been drawn into eight-team Elite Group `A', which also includes Mumbai, Bengal, Delhi, Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

The Elite Group `B' comprises last season's runner-up Punjab, Haryana, Hyderabad, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra, Baroda and Services. The championship opens on November 23 and the league ends with January 11-14 matches.

At a meeting of the North Zone representatives in Shimla on Sunday, Delhi was allotted the Ranji Trophy one-day zonal tournament involving six teams.

The Tours and Fixtures Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which drew the schedule for the coming domestic season, named Central Zone to host the Prof. D. B. Deodhar Trophy one-day tournament.

The schedule: Ranji Trophy (host name first): Elite Group `A': Nov. 23-26: Delhi v Mumbai, Railways v Karnataka, Maharashtra v Bengal, Tamil Nadu v Gujarat. Dec. 1-4: Karnataka v Mumbai, Railways v Tamil Nadu, Delhi v Bengal, Gujarat v Maharashtra. Dec. 9-12: Mumbai v Bengal, Railways v Gujarat, Tamil Nadu v Karnataka, Delhi v Maharashtra. Dec. 17-20: Mumbai v Railways, Karnataka v Bengal, Delhi v Gujarat, Maharashtra v Tamil Nadu. Dec. 25-28: Mumbai v Tamil Nadu, Railways v Delhi, Gujarat v Bengal, Karnataka v Maharashtra. Jan. 3-6, 2006: Gujarat v Mumbai, Railways v Maharashtra, Bengal v Tamil Nadu, Karnataka v Delhi. Jan. 10-13: Mumbai v Maharashtra, Bengal v Railways, Gujarat v Karnataka, Tamil Nadu v Delhi.

Elite Group `B': Nov. 23-26: Punjab v Services, Uttar Pradesh v Haryana, Andhra v Baroda. Dec. 1-4: Punjab v Haryana, Uttar Pradesh v Baroda, Andhra v Hyderabad. Dec. 9-12: Punjab v Hyderabad, Uttar Pradesh v Services, Haryana v Baroda. Dec. 17-20: Uttar Pradesh v Punjab, Hyderabad v Haryana, Services v Andhra. Dec. 25-28: Baroda v Punjab, Hyderabad v Services, Andhra v Haryana. Jan. 3-6, 2006: Andhra v Punjab, Services v Baroda, Uttar Pradesh v Hyderabad. Jan. 11-14: Andhra v Uttar Pradesh, Services v Haryana, Baroda v Hyderabad.

Duleep Trophy: Group I: Central Zone, South Zone and West Zone. Group II: North Zone, East Zone and Zimbabwe `A'. Oct. 20-23: West v South, North v East. Oct. 27-30: South v Central, North v Zimbabwe `A'. Nov. 4-7: Central v West, East v Zimbabwe `A'. Nov. 12-16: Final.

Prof. D. B. Deodhar Trophy (in Central Zone): Feb. 25, 2006: Central v West, East v South. Feb. 28: Central v North, East v West. March 3: Central v South, North v West. March 6: Central v East, North v South. March 9: East v North, South v West.