Jharkhand's First Class cricket domestic schedule for 2013-14 season

The domestic season in Indian cricket is underway with the NKP Salve Trophy & Duleep Trophy already having been contested for. However, now begins the real contest, the Ranji Trophy. Like last season I will try to cover the entire Jharkhand campaign in this blog.

Ranji Trophy – The previous Ranji campaign was quite a successful one as Jharkhand reached the Ranji knock-outs from Group C. With the knock-out appearance, the team has been rewarded with a promotion to Group A from which 3 teams will go into the knock-outs. Here is the calendar for the 2013-14 Ranji Season.

Oct 27-30, 2013: vs Delhi (H)Nov 7-10, 2013: vs Karnataka (A)Nov 14-17, 2013: vs Haryana (A)Nov 21-24, 2013: vs Odisha (A)Nov 28-Dec 1, 2013: vs Gujarat (H)Dec 6-9, 2013: vs Mumbai (A)Dec 22-25, 2013: vs Vidarbha (H)Dec 30, 2103- Jan 2, 2014: vs Punjab (H)

Vijay Hazare Trophy – The domestic 50 over tournament. Here is the schedule for the inter-zonal league stage. (All matches in Agartala, Tripura)

Mar 1, 2014: vs TripuraMar 3, 2014: vs BengalMar 5, 2014: vs AssamMar 7, 2014: vs Odisha

Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy -The national T20 Champioships. Following is the schedule for the inter-zonal league stage. (All matches in Kolkata)

Apr 2, 2014: vs TripuraApr 3, 2014: vs BengalApr 4, 2014: vs OdishaApr 5, 2014: vs Assam

Given the performance of the last year, the expectations will certainly be higher although the group stage is tougher this year. With Dhoni most likely to be unavailable for the entire campaign the likes of Shahbaz Nadeem, Saurabh Tiwary, Ishank Jaggi & Sunny Gupta are again expected to be the key players. After an excepional Champions League T20, lots is now expected from Rahul Shukla also. Varun Aaron is also reportedly fit and should grab his chances of getting back into the national team.

The team for the inital matches have been aanounced. Like last year Shahbaz Nadeem will continue to lead the team. There have been a couple of transfer joinees as well. Here is the full team list.Rameez Nemat, Manish Vardhan, Aakash Verma, Ishank Jaggi (Vice Capt), Saurabh Tiwary, Bhawin Thakker, Bhavik Thaker, S. P. Gautam, Shahbaz Nadeem (Capt), Sunny Gupta, Samar Quadri, Varun Aaron, Rahul Shukla, Ajay Yadav, S. S. Rao

Wishing the best for my team for the season ahead.