India face Australia in the first Test of their tour Down Under from December 6, more than a month after the Ranji Trophy kicks off at home.

Despite the lengthy gap between the two events, the squad for the Test series was announced last week, days before the first round of games were to start in the premier domestic competition.

Additionally, the squad for the India A outfit which travels to New Zealand in November was also announced in the same press conference. In fact, the selection committee has requested states whose pace bowlers have been named in the national side’s feeder team to be recused from Ranji duty in the run up to the team’s departure.

The turn of events is set to take the sheen off the Ranji Trophy which begins on Thursday. Several players who have been knocking on the doors of the national team will have to be content with performing for just their respective state teams, with an incentive of making a late push for the Test squad already out of the window.

The initial rounds will most likely be used as practice games for a few members of the Indian Test team. Cheteshwar Pujara is expected to play Saurashtra’s opener against Chattisgarh while spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and Murali Vijay have been named in the Tamil Nadu squad for their first game against Madhya Pradesh. Teenage star Prithvi Shaw will not feature against Railways as he still recovering from an injury he suffered during the Deodhar Trophy in Delhi last week.

Focus on Northeast teams

The Ranji season will see a record 37 teams, including seven debutants from the northeast, participating. The number is likely to pose a massive logistical challenge for a cricket board going through administrative chaos.

The new teams – Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Nagaland, Meghalaya , Bihar and Puducherry – did feature in the recently held 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy but playing red-ball cricket will be a tougher challenge.

Some argued that the new teams should have made a gradual progression to the Ranji Trophy, starting with age group cricket rather than rushing them into the country’s premier first-class competition.

However, the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators went for an all-out approach and the newbies now find themselves thrown in at the deep end.

The nine teams will compete against each other in the plate group, just like they did in Vijay Hazare Trophy where Bihar, who returned to domestic cricket after 18 years, and Uttarakhand, gave a good account of themselves. Most of these teams will rely on their outstation players this season.

More than 50 grounds will be used during the tournament, making it a huge logistical challenge but Saba Karim, BCCI GM of Cricket Operations, said his team is ready.

“We are ready and we have proved that with the successful conduct of domestic tournaments (Vijay Hazare, Duleep Trophy, Deodhar Trophy) leading up to the Ranji Trophy. Our team has been working round the clock ahead of the tournament,” Karim was quoted as saying by PTI.

“The new teams have shown what they are capable of. No doubt, Ranji Trophy will be their toughest challenge but with the help of outstation players, I am eager to see how they perform,” added the former India wicket-keeper.

While the nine teams aim to find their footing, domestic stars will be in action across Group A, B and C.

Group A seems to be the toughest of all in the presence record champions Mumbai, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Saurashtra, Railways Chattisgarh, Vidarbha and Gujarat.

While Gujarat won their maiden title the year before last, Vidharbha are the defending champions. Ahead of another season, it would be too early to speculate if there will be a first-time winner of Ranji Trophy while Mumbai will remain perennial favourites.

The 41-time champions will be led by the stylish Shreyas Iyer, at least in their opener against Railways at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi. The team will be high on confidence following their triumph in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

(With PTI inputs)