The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has accepted the objections raised by State associations and modified the qualification format for the Vijay Hazare Trophy knockouts. As a result, the winner of the Plate Group will not get a direct entry into the quarterfinals of the inter-State one-day championship, which starts on Saturday.
The Hindu understands that the Vijay Hazare Trophy will see the topper in each of the five groups qualify for the knockouts along with three other teams from the combined points table. The eighth-placed team in the rankings after the league stage will face the winner of the Plate Group in an Eliminator for a quarterfinal berth.
The pre-quarterfinal is scheduled for March 7, the first day of the knockouts, the venue for which is yet to be announced.
For the Mushtaq Ali Trophy, seven teams from the Elite league had qualified for the quarterfinals along with the winner of the Plate Group. This prompted State associations of Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh to write to the BCCI, suggesting an alteration to the format.
The associations had claimed that the Plate team results in a dilution of the knockouts, a point that has been raised by various experts as well.
