Ranji Trophy 2019-20: Here's all that you need to know
What's the story
The Ranji Trophy 2019-20 is set to start and there is a lot of excitement all around.
The 86th edition of the Ranji Trophy gets underway with 10 matches across four groups starting, December 9.
Vidarbha go into the tournament as the defending champions.
They had earlier won the title in 2017-18 as well.
Here is all that you need to know.
Title contenders
Who are the title contenders this season?
Vidarbha will be eyeing a third successive title win under skipper Faiz Fazal.
They will be presented with a fresh challenge and that will excite the players.
Karnataka will be a massive threat this season.
They sealed the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as well.
Devdutt Padikkal will be a key figure.
Meanwhile, Mumbai will be threatening as well.
Star players
Many star players to be available until February
Several big stars will be available this season up till India's next Test assignment against New Zealand, starting February 2020.
So for the next two months, the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, R Ashwin, Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari and Shubman Gill will all be available.
Joining them will be Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma.
All these players are part of the Test set-up.
Talents
Rising stars will gain attention as well
There are many rising talents on offer and they will be banking on the new season to be in fray for future India call-ups.
The Indian team is almost settled, however, several names will catch the eye of the selectors.
The list includes. Priyank Panchal and Abhimanyu Easwaran, who will lead Gujarat and Bengal respectively.
Vidarbha's Rajneesh Gurbani is an exciting pacer on offer.
Groups
Ranji Trophy 2019-20: Here are all the groups
Group A: Andhra, Bengal, Delhi, Gujarat, Hyderabad, Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan, Vidarbha.
Group B: Baroda, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai, Railways, Saurashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh.
Group C: Assam, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Services, Tripura, Uttarakhand.
Plate Group: Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Goa, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, Sikkim.
Format
What's the format this season?
The format of the Ranji Trophy 2019-20 will see the 38 teams present being split into four groups.
The groups as mentioned above are, Elite Groups A, B and C, and Plate.
The top five teams from Elite Groups A and B combined, the top two from Group C, and the toppers from Plate will make it to the quarter-finals.