Corporate Trophy expanded to 16 teams

The second edition of the BCCI Corporate Trophy will be played across four venues - Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Bangalore - from September 1 to 8, the board announced on Monday. The trophy has been named after Raj Singh Dungarpur, the former BCCI president who passed away last year.

The tournament has been expanded to 16 teams, four more than last year, and they have been split into four groups. Teams from each group will be based in a particular city before the top four head to Visakhapatnam for the two semi-finals on September 5 and 6. The venue for the final, on September 8, hasn't been decided. Both the semis, as well as the fixture in Visakhapatnam on September 3 will be day-night games. The board is expected to announce the full schedule in due course.

The new teams taking part this season are State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Hyderabad, Chemplast, All India Electricity Board, Income Tax and Vijaya Bank. Those missing from last year are All India Public Sector Sports Promotion Board, Indian Revenue and ITC. Air India played as two separate teams (Red and Blue) last year and the Red team had emerged winners.

Group A (based in Visakhapatnam) - Air India, BSNL, Chemplast, State Bank of Mysore
Group B (based in Chennai) - Tata Sports Club, BPCL, Vijaya Bank, Canara Bank
Group C (based in Hyderabad) - India Cements, All India Electricity Board, Indian Oil Corporation, State Bank of Hyderabad
Group D (based in Bangalore) - ONGC, Income Tax, State Bank of Patiala, MRF