Ekana stadium to host Central Zone ties of Vijay Merchant Trophy from Jan 9
LUCKNOW: Lucknow’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium is going to host the central zone matches of the Under-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy with a drastic change in the playing format from January 9 to 22.
Former champions Uttar Pradesh would be playing alongside Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh here as the teams have to report to Lucknow on January 3.
In view of the COVID19 protocols, now the tournament will be played in a two-day format instead of three days and first innings for both teams will be limited to 90 overs. The new format also clarifies that maximum limit per bowler in aninning is 20 overs, not more than six fielders be allowed on the off side and four fielders within the 30 yards circle is mandatory throughout the match.
This isn’t all as the new ball to be made available after 60 overs, but would be compulsory after 75 overs. Team winning a game outright would be getting five points, but on the basis of the first innings lead a team will get three points.
In case of tie and no result, teams would be getting two points each and team facing first innings deficit would be getting one point.
As per a communiqué from BCCI, Gwalior/Indore would be hosting the North Zone matches, whereas Pondicherry has been named the venue for the South Zone matches. Guwahati would be hosting the east Zone matches, whereas West Zone matches will be played at Rajkot.
Group A matches, comprising teams like Arunachal, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Nagaland and Manipur will be played at Kolkata, whereas teams like Pondicherry, Uttrakhand, Mizoram, Bihar and Chandigarh would be playing in Group B at Dehradun.
There are 36 teams with matches spread across the country at the knockout rounds would be played at Rajkot from January 29 to February 11. Winners of the five zonal groups will qualify for the quarterfinals, whereas five second placed teams in the znal groups will qualify for the pre-quarters.
The winners of Group A and B will each other for the sixth spot of the pre-quarters and five zonal champions and three winners of the three pre-quarters will qualify for the quarterfi-* nals.
IN CASE OF TIE AND NO RESULT, TEAMS WOULD BE GETTING TWO POINTS EACH AND TEAM FACING FIRST INNINGS DEFICIT WOULD BE GETTING ONE POINT
UP IN COMMAND
Former champions Uttar Pradesh need four wickets to notch up their maiden outright win in the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy as rivals Odisha were struggling at 295/6 at the end of the penultimate day of their fourday Elite Group A tie at Pune on Wednesday.
With four wickets in hand, Odisha still need 28 runs to cover come UP’s first innings total of 485 while following-in on after scoring 162 in their first innings.
Resuming at the overnight score of 2/0 in three overs in their second innings, Odisha managed to post 295/6 in 88 overs at the end of the Day Three. An unbeaten century by Anshuman Sahoo (102, 242b, 16x4) remained the highlights of the Odisha’s innings with keeper-batter Aasihrwad Swain (74, 116b, 11x4, 1x6) and opener Dinesh K Majhi (45, 58b, 8x4, 2x6) making useful contributions. For Uttar Pradesh, Prashant Yadav (2/49) and skipper Vipraj Nigam (2/86) could impress the Odisha batters.